1>UM, /<^V 


773 


THE  NEfV  YORK 
ELECTRICAL   HANDBOOK 


THE  NEW  YORK 

ELECTRICAL 
HANDBOOK 


Being  a  Guide  for  Visitors  from  Abroad 
Attending  the  International  Electri- 
cal Congress,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
September,     1904 


Published  under  the  auspices  of 

N  The  Ame;;ican  Institute  of 
Electrical    Engineers_\ 
1904 


Copyright  by  the  A.  I.  E.  E. ,  igo4 


The  Mason  Press 
Syracuse,  Xew  York 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction    i 

New  York  Edison  Company i 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Company' S7 

New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad 
Company    75 

The  Telephone  System  of  New  York  City 93 

The  Metropolitan  Street  Railwa}'  System 125 

The    Edison    Electric    Illuminating    Company   of 
Brooklyn    169 

The    New   York   Terminus   of   the    Pennsylvania 
and  The  Long  Island  Railroads 183 

The  Commercial  Cable  Cnmpany  and  the  Postal 
Telegraph    Company 205 

Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Cnmpanj- 225 

Electrical  Equipment  of  Interborough  Rapid 
Transit  Company:  Manhattan  Railway 
Division    243 

Electrical     Equipment     of     Interborough     Rapid 

Transit  Company:   Subway   Division 283 

Appendix   305 


INTRODUCTION 


Introduction 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  the  metropolis  of  the  United 
States  and  the  largest  and  wealthiest  city  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  is  finely  situated  on  the 
islands  and  mainland  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hud- 
son River.  The  population  of  the  city  in  1903  was  esti- 
mated by  the  United  States  Census  Bureau  at  3,716,139. 
In  point  of  numbers,  as  well  as  from  a  commercial  and 
financial  standpoint,  the  city  is  second  to  London  alone 
among  the  great  cities  of  the  world.  Although  owing  to 
the  configuration  of  State  boundaries  certain  neighboring 
cities,  such  as  Jersey  City.  Newark  and  Paterson,  lie  in 
the  State  of  New  Jersey  and  can  not  be  reckoned  as  a 
part  of  the  city  in  a  political  sense,  they  should,  never- 
theless, lie  considered  in  the  Metropolitan  area,  and  with 
this  addition  the  total  population  is  increased  to  about 
4.5CO.CCO. 

The  original  settlement  was  made  in  the  southern  end 
of  Manhattan  Island  in  1624  by  the  Dutch,  and  was  known 
as  New  Amsterdam.  After  its  capture  by  the  English  in 
1664,  the  city,  which  had  grown  as  far  up  the  island  as 
Wall  street,  was  renamed  New  York,  in  honor  of  James. 
Duke  of  York,  to  whom  the  province  was  granted  by  his 
brother,  Charles  II.  One  hundred  years  later,  just  be- 
fore the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  the  city  extended  to 
where  the  City  Hall  now  stands. 

In  1858  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  stood  at  the  northern 
end  of  the  cit}'.  but  the  opening  of  the  elevated  railways 
between  1877  and  1880  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  north- 
ward growth  of  the  city,  until  to-day  the  whole  of  ^lan- 
hattan  Island,  from  end  to  end.  is  densely  populated,  with 
the  exception  of  the  spaces  reserved  for  public  parks. 

The  present  cit}-  of  New  York  consists  of  five  bor- 
oughs, namely,  Manhattan.  Bronx,  Brooklyn,  Queens  and 


X  J  11  t  r  o  d  u  c  t  i  o  ii 

Kichniund.  Its  Icngtli  from  nortli  to  south  is  thirty-three 
miles;  its  width  from  cast  to  west,  eighteen  miles,  and  its 
total  area  307  square  miles. 

The  Borough  of  Manhattan  is  conterminous  with  the 
island  of  that  name.  It  is  long  and  narrow,  and  lies 
nearly  north  and  south  in  the  axis  of  its  greatest  length, 
the  southern  and  oldest  settled  portion  of  the  island 
facing  the  traveler  as  he  approaches  through  New  York 
harbor  from  the  Atlantic  Otean.  The  extreme  length  of 
the  island  is  thirteen  and  one-half  miles  and  its  breadth 
varies  from  half  a  mile  to  two  miles  and  a  half,  the  aver- 
age being  about  a  mile  and  three-quarters.  Its  total  area 
is  twenty-one  square  miles. 

In  1874,  an  area  equal  in  size  to  ^lanhattan  Island 
was  taken  from  Westchester  county  on  the  mainland, 
west  of  the  Bronx  River,  and  added  to  the  city,  and  in 
1895  this  area  was  further  extended  to  include  all  the 
territory  between  the  Hudson  River  and  Long  Island 
Sound,  south  of  the  cities  of  Yonkers  and  Mount  Vernon. 

On  January  ist,  1898.  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  Long  Isl- 
and City  and  part  of  Queens  County,  and  Staten  Island, 
the  boundaries  of  which  are  conterminous  with  the  county 
of  Richmond,  were  incorporated  in  New  York  City.  The 
area  and  population  of  the  city  and  of  its  five  boroughs 
at  the  official  United  States  census  of  1900  were  as  fol- 
lows : 

Area  sg.  miles.  Population. 

New  York  City 307  3A37,^02 

Manhattan  Borough 21  1,850,093 

Bronx  "       39  200,507 

Brooklyn  "       66  1.166,582 

Queens  "       124  152.999 

Richmond  "       57  67.021 

The  growth  of  the  population  of  New  York  City  since 
1900  is  estimated  by  the  United  States  Census  at  not  less 
than  100.000  a  year,  a  considerable  proportion  of  which  is 
due  to  foreign  immigration.  It  has  been  estimated  that 
the  population  of  the  metropolitan  area  of  New  York 
contains  900.000  inhabitants  of  German  birth  or  parent- 
age ;  850.000  inliabitants  of  Irish  l)irth  or  parentage;  200.- 


Introduction 


Standard  Oil    liuilding 


xii  I  )i  t  r  o  d  It  c  t  i  o  ii 

ooo  inhabitants  of  English,  Scolch  or  Canadian  parentage; 
100,000  inhabitants  f>f  ItaHan  l)irth  or  parentage,  and 
ico.ooo  inhabitants  of  Russian  birth  or  parentage,  mostly 
Hebrews.  There  are  also  about  io,oco  Chinese,  and 
smaller  colonies  of  I">ench,  Spaniards,  Greeks.  Syrians, 
Armenians  and  Japanese. 

The  government  nf  Xcw  York  City  is  of  the  repre- 
sentative American  type.  The  Mayor  is  the  chief  execu- 
tive, and  is  elected  by  popular  suffrage  for  a  term  of  two 
years  at  a  salary  of  $15,000  per  year.  He  appoints,  and 
may  remove  at  will,  all  executive  heads  of  departments. 
The  principal  offices  which  the  Mayor  fills  by  appoint- 
ment are  as  follows  :  Police  Commissioner,  Street  Clean- 
ing Commissioner,  Commissioner  of  Bridges,  Commis- 
sioner of  Public  Charities,  Commissioner  of  Correction, 
Fire  Commissioner,  Health  Commissioner,  Building  Com- 
missioner, Tenement  House  Commissioner,  three  Park 
Commissioners,  five  Commissioners  of  Taxes  and  Assess- 
ments, City  Chamberlain,  Corporation  Counsel,  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Water,  Lighting,  Gas  and  Supplies. 
Each  of  these  commissioners  is  head  of  the  department 
which  the  name  of  his  office  indicates,  and  the  responsi- 
bility for  its  management  rests  absolutely  with  him.  Be- 
sides the  Mayor,  the  Controller,  who  has  charge  of  the 
finances,  and  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen, 
who  takes  the  place  of  the  ]\Iayor  in  his  absence,  are 
elected  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Mayor  and  for  a  sim- 
ilar term.  The  Controller  receives  a  salary  of  $15,000  per 
year,  and  the  salaries  of  the  commissioners  average 
$7,500  each. 

The  legislative  department  of  the  city  government  is 
vested  in  a  Board  of  Aldermen,  which  consists  of  a  single 
chamber  of  seventy-three  members,  who  are  elected  from 
specified  districts.  This  board  has  restricted  powers  of 
legislation  and  takes  no  active  i^art  in  the  executive  ad- 
ministration of  the  city  government.  Each  of  the  five 
boroughs  elects  a  President  by  popular  vote,  and  each 
President  in  turn  selects  a  Commissioner  of  Public  ^\'orks 
for  his  district. 

The  most  important  bureau  of  the  city  government  is 


I  II  t  r  0  d  II  c  t  i  o  II  XI i I 

the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  which  passes 
on  all  expenditures  made  by  the  city,  and  prepares  the 
annual  budget.  This  board  consists  of  the  ]\Iayor,  Con- 
troller, and  President  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  each 
with  three  votes,  the  Presidents  of  the  Boroughs  of  Man- 
hattan and  Brooklyn  with  two  votes  each,  and  the  other 
three  Borough  Presidents  with  one._vote  each. 

Since  the  boundaries  of  New  York  were  extended  to 
include  Brooklyn,  part  of  Queens  County  and  Staten 
Island,  the  annual  appropriations  have  nearly  reached 
$ioo,oco,coo  each  year.  It  is  characteristic  of  an  Amer- 
ican city  that  the  largest  single  item  in  the  appropriation 
should  be  devoted  to  education,  the  amount  for  1903  being 
$20,063,017.77;  in  addition  to  which  there  was  also  appro- 
priated $298,362  for  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
where  male  teachers  are  trained,  and  $220,000  for  the 
Normal  College  of  the  State  of  New  York,  where  female 
teachers  are  trained.  Next  to  education  the  largest 
amount  spent  was  for  interest  on  the  city  debt,  amount- 
ing to  $13,276,709.64,  together  with  the  sum  of  $10,417,- 
359- 1 7  paid  into  the  sinking  fund  for  the  ultimate  redemp- 
tion of  the  debt.  The  Police  Department,  which  has  about 
7,coo  members,  absorbed  $11,566,680.42,  while  the  Fire 
Department,  with  3,000  members,  and  the  Street  Cleaning 
Department  required  a  little  over  five  million  dollars 
each. 

The  total  assessed  valuation  of  the  entire  cit}"  is 
$4,764,205,484,  of  which  the  Borough  of  Manhattan  is 
assessed  at  $3,507,083,911.  The  city  debt,  deducting  sums 
paid  into  the  sinking  fund,  amounts  to  a  little  over  two 
hundred  million  dollars.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that 
the  assessed  valuation  of  New  York  is  almost  equal  to 
that  of  London,  while  the  debt  is  about  the  same.  There 
are  about  1,300  miles  of  streets,  of  which  1,100  miles  are 
paved,  and  1,100  miles  of  sewers.  Owing  to  the  scouring 
effects  of  the  tides  in  the  Hudson  River,  New  York  has 
not  had  the  same  difficulties  to  face  as  many  other  large 
cities  in  getting  its  sewage  out  to  sea. 

The  traveler  from  Europe  approaching  New  York 
sails  almost  due  west  until  he  passes  Sandy  Hook  and 


xiv  I  n  t  r  o  d  ti  c  t  i  0  n 

Scotland  lightships.     Sandy  Hook  itself  is  a  low  sand 
spit  extending  out  from  New  Jersey,  on  which  is  situated 


.1.   I'.   Morgan  \-  Co. 

Fort  Hancock,  defended  by  large,  modern,  high-power 
guns  mounted  on  disappearing  carriages.  After  crossing 
the  bar,  which  extends  from  Sandy  Hook  to  Long  Isl- 
and and  whicli  has  twn  channels,  the  vessel  turns  sharply 


I  n  t  r  0  duct  i  o  n  xv 

almost  due  north  and  enters  the  lower  bay.  On  the  left 
hand  side  is  then  seen  the  wooded  heights  and  villas  of 
Staten  Island,  while  on  the  right  hand  side  Conej^  Island 
and  Rockaway,  two  seaside  resorts  in  the  Borough  of 
Brooklyn,  come  into  view.  The  vessel  now  passes  through 
the  Narrows,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  wide,  formed  by 
Staten  Island  on  the  left  and  Long  Island  on  the  right, 
and  guarded  by  Fort  Wadsw^orth  on  the  Staten  Island 
side  and  Fort  Hamilton  on  the  Long  Island  side.  Just 
within  the  Narrows  is  the  quarantine  station,  at  which  all 
ships  stop  for  examination  by  the  health  officers.  After 
passing  quarantine  the  vessel  enters  the  upper  bay  and 
the  traveler  gets  his  first  glimpse  of  ]^Ianhattan  Island,  the 
lower  part  of  which  presents  a  sight  at  present  unequaled 
in  the  world,  owing  to  the  number  and  diversitj-  of  the 
tall  buildings  which  cluster  around  its  southern  end.  The 
first  object  which  attracts  the  attention  of  the  traveler  in 
the  upper  bay  is  the  Statue  of  Liberty,  a  colossal  statue 
151  feet  high  and  standing  upon  a  pedestal  155  feet  in 
height,  designed  by  Bartholdi.  On  the  right,  almost  op- 
posite to  the  Statue  of  Liberty,  may  be  seen  the  beautiful 
Greenwood  Cemetery,  situated  in  the  Borough  of  Brook- 
lyn. Further  along  to  the  right  may  be  seen  the  light 
and  graceful  structure  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  spanning 
the  East  River,  which  is  reallj^  an  arm  of  the  sea  connect- 
ing the  upper  bay  with  Long  Island  Sound.  The  vessel 
passes  up  the  left  hand  side  of  Manhattan  Island  through 
the  North  River,  as  the  Hudson  River  is  here  locally 
known,  and  on  the  Jersey  shore  may  be  seen  the  numer- 
ous railway  stations  of  the  great  trunk  lines  leading  to 
the  west  and  south,  including  fiist  the  Central  of 
New  Jersey,  then  the  Pennsylvania,  the  Lackaw^anna, 
and  the  Erie  railways.  At  the  southern  end  of  Man- 
hattan Island  may  be  seen  a  patch  of  green,  twenty- 
one  acres  in  extent,  known  as  Battery  Park.  Within 
the  limits  of  this  park  stands  Castle  Garden,  originally 
a  fort,  then  an  amusement  hall  in  which  Jenny  Lind 
sang  in  1850,  after  that  a  depot  for  receiving  immigrants, 
and  now^  a  public  aquarium.  On  the  right  may  be  seen 
the  Produce  Exchange,  a  large  building  in  red  brick  and 


xvi  I  n  t  r  u  d  II  c  t  i  0  n 

terra  cotta,  in  the  Italian  Renaissance  style,  with  a  square 
tower  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  high.  To  the 
left  of  the  Produce  Exchange,  and  somewhat  beneath 
it.  will  stand  the  new  Custom  House,  now  in  process  of 
erection,  on  the  south  side  of  I'.owling  Green.  On  the 
left  hand  side  is  the  Washington  Building,  another  red 


The  New  Hall  of  Records 

brick  structure,  erected  by  the  late  Cyrus  W.  Field,  which 
is  the  beginning  of  Broadway. 

The  vessel  now  passes  to  her  pier  either  on  the  Xew 
York  or  New  Jersey  side  of  the  North  River  and  after  a 
somewhat  troublesome  examination  by  the  custom  house 
officers  the  traveler  makes  his  way  to  his  hotel. 

The  visitor  to  New  York  will  find  that  the  best  way 
to  obtain  a  general  view  of  the  city  is  to  start  at  the  lower 
end  of  Broadway  and  walk  as  far  up  as  the  City  Hall, 


Introduction  xvii 

bareh'  a  mile  distant,  take  a  street  car  from  that  point  to 
Madison  Square  and  23rd  street,  and  then  take  a  stage 
up  Fifth  avenue  to  Central  Park. 

Beginning  at  No.  i  Broad\va\-,  on  the  left  hand  side, 
is  the  Washington  Building,  already  mentioned,  and  next 
to  it  is  the  large  Bowling  Green  Building.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  street,  opposite  to  these  two  buildings,  is  the 
Welles  Building  and  the  Standard  Oil  Building.  At  the 
southern  right  hand  corner  of  Exchange  place  is  the  Ex- 
change Court  Building,  with  four  large  bronze  statues : 
of  Stuyvesant.  the  last  Dutch  governor  of  New  Amster- 
dam ;  of  DeWitt  Clinton,  the  originator  of  the  Erie 
Canal ;  of  Henry  Hudson,  the  discoverer  of  the  Hudson 
River,  and  of  James  Wolfe,  one  of  the  two  heroes  of  the 
Heights  of  Abraham.  On  the  north  right  hand  corner  of 
Exchange  place  is  the  Consolidated  Stock  and  Petroleum 
Exchange,  and  a  few  doors  above  this  at  Nos.  64  to  68  is 
the  building  of  the  Manhattan  Life  Insurance  Company, 
the  tower  of  which  is  350  feet  in  height.  On  the  left 
hand  side  and  at  the  corner  of  Rector  street,  which 
separates  it  from  Trinity  churchyard,  is  the  Empire 
Building,  twentj-  stories  high. 

Trinity  Church,  which  stands  opposite  the  head  of 
Wall  street,  is  a  fine  Gothic  edifice  of  brown  stone  with 
a  spire  285  feet  high.  The  present  church  was  completed 
in  1846,  but  it  stands  on  the  site  of  two  earlier  churches, 
the  first  of  which  was  erected  in  1696.  The  handsome 
bronze  doors  of  this  church  w^ere  given  as  a  memorial  of 
the  late  John  Jacob  Astor  by  his  descendants,  and  the 
altar  and  reredos  in  the  church  itself  were  built  as  a 
memorial  of  William  B.  Astor,  son  of  John  Jacob  Astor 
the  first.  The  churchyard  contains  the  graves  of  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  the  celebrated  American  statesman  who, 
in  the  words  of  Talleyrand,  "divined  Europe ;"  Robert 
Fulton  of  steamboat  fame :  Captain  Lawrence,  who  was 
killed  in  the  Chesapeake-Shannon  fight  in  1813 ;  General 
Phil  Kearnej',  and  William  Bradford,  who  died  in  1752, 
printer  of  the  first  New  York  newspaper. 

The  visitor  now^  turns  down  Wall  street  and  sees  on 
the  left  the  L'nited  States  Sub-Treasurv,  a  marble  build- 


xviii  I  n  t  r  u  d  u  c  t  i  u  ii 

ing  with  a  Doric  portico.  This  building  occupies  the  site 
of  the  old  Federal  Hall,  in  which  the  first  United  States 
Congress  was  held  and  in  which  Washington  was  inau- 
gurated President.  A  large  bronze  statue  of  Washing- 
ton by  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  erected  in  1883,  marks  the  site 
where  Washington  took  the  oath  as  first  President 
of  the  United  States  in  1789.  Opposite  the  Sub- 
Treasury  and  running  south  parallel  to  Broadway 
is  Broad  street,  on  which  is  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange,  a  handsome  marble  structure;  at  the  right 
hand  corner  of  Wall  and  Broad  streets  is  situated 
a  white  marble  building  known  as  the  Drexel  Build- 
ing, on  the  ground  floor  of  which  J.  P.  Morgan  and 
Companj'  have  their  offices.  Further  down  Broad 
street,  on  the  right  hand  side,  we  first  pass,  at  No. 
20,  the  Commercial  Cable  Building,  and,  at  No.  44, 
the  Edison  Building,  which  is  the  New  York  head- 
quarters of  the  General  Electric  Company.  Resuming  our 
w-alk  through  Wall  street,  we  see  the  United  States  Assay 
Office,  where  crude  bullion  is  refined,  and  further  along 
to  the  right  we  see  the  huge  Ionic  colonnade  of  dark 
granite  of  the  present  Custom  House,  but  which  will  be 
occupied  liy  the  City  Bank  as  soon  as  the  new  Custom 
House  on  Bowling  Green  is  completed. 

Resuming  our  walk  up  Broadway,  we  pass  the  twenty- 
three-story  building  of  the  American  Surety  Company, 
316  feet  high,  and  at  the  corner  of  Pine  street  and  on  the 
same  side,  between  Pine  and  Cedar  streets,  the  huge 
building  of  the  Equital)le  Life  Assurance  Society 
with  1,500  tenants.  It  is  in  this  building  that  the 
New  York  offices  of  the  Westinghouse  Company 
are  situated.  The  offices  and  library  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  are  situated  at 
No.  95  Liberty  street,  which  crosses  Broadway  one 
block  above  the  Equitable  Building.  At  No.  195 
Broadway,  corner  of  Dey  street,  on  the  left  hand  side  of 
the  street,  is  the  large  building  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  and  down  Dey  street,  at  No.  15,  is 
the  chief  office  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Company. 
Higher  up.  on  the  west  si;le  of  Broadway,  is  St.  Paul's 


/  ;/  t  r  o  d  11  c  t  i  0  n  xix 

Church,  one  of  the  earliest  chapels  of  the  Trinity  Church 
corporation,  which  was  erected  in  1765  and  is  the  oldest 
church  edifice  in  New  York  City.  Here  Washington 
worshipped  when  he  was  President,  during  his  first  term, 
while  the  Federal  Government  was  situated  in  Xew  York 
City,  and  his  pew  is  still  shown  to  visitors.  Opposite  St. 
Paul's  Church  is  the  St.  Paul  Building  with  its  twenty- 
six  stories,  308  feet  high,  and  above  this  and  to  the  right 
is  the  huge  Park  Row  Building,  390  feet  high,  containing 
950  offices  and  twenty-nine  stories. 

At  the  apex  of  a  triangle  formed  by  Park  Row  and 
Broadway  stands  the  Post  Ofifice,  architecturally  a  very 
unsatisfactory  building,  completed  in  1876.  Opposite  to 
the  Post  Office,  on  the  left  hand  side  of  Broadway,  stands 
the  Astor  House,  erected  in  1834  and  long  the  most  fa- 
mous hostelry  in  New  York,  although  now  somewhat  too 
far  down  town.  This  building  covers  the  site  of  the  first 
house  occupied  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  to  whose  descend- 
ants the  hotel  still  belongs. 

Above  the  Post  Office  is  an  open  space  laid 
out  in  a  small  park,  which  is  all  that  remains  of 
the  commons  of  the  city.  Here  in  the  early  Revo- 
lutionary days  the  patriots  drilled,  and  it  was  here 
that  George  Washington  read  to  the  assembled 
troops  the  Declaration  of  Independence  a  few  days 
after  it  had  been  signed  in  Philadelphia.  The 
City  Hall,  perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  building 
in  an  architectural  sense  in  Xew  York,  occupies 
the  centre  of  this  park.  It  was  finished  in  1812  and  its 
architect  was  John  McComb.  The  north  side  of  the  build- 
ing was  faced  with  freestone,  as  no  one  then  dreamed 
that  the  city  would  ever  extend  beyond  this  point.  North 
of  the  City  Hall  stands  the  Court  House,  a  white  marble 
building  with  Corinthian  columns,  noted  as  having  been 
the  chief  means  through  which  the  stupendous  Tweed 
frauds  were  realized.  Its  cost  on  account  of  these  frauds 
has  been  variously  estimated  at  from  $12,000,000  to  $17,- 
000,000.  On  the  Park  Row  side  of  City  Hall  Park  four 
newspaper  buildings  stand  out  conspicuously.  The  first 
of  these,  going  from  south  to  north,  is  the  building  lately 


Introduction 


llic  Flatiron    lUiikling 


I  n  t  r  o  d  u  c  t  i  o  n  xxi 

occupied  by  the  New  York  Times,  the  architect  of  which 
was  Mr.  George  B.  Post,  and  which  is  probably  the  most 
satisfactory  architectural  treatment  of  a  tall  building  to 
be  seen  in  the  city.  The  next  is  the  New  York  Tribune 
Building,  one  of  the  earliest  attempts  at  a  tall  building  in 
the  country,  with  a  clock  tower  285  feet  high.  The  New 
York  Sun  Building,  of  no  architectural  pretensions, 
stands  on  the  same  block  as  the  Tribune  Building ;  it  is 
noted  as  having  been  the  former  home  of  the  Tammany 
Society.  Further  on  is  the  Pulitzer  Building,  the  office 
of  the  New  York  JJ' arid,  with  a  dome  310  feet  high,  from 
which  a  splendid  view  of  New  York  may  be  obtained. 
Beyond  the  Pulitzer  Building  is  the  entrance  to  the  East 
River  Bridge,  usually  called  the  Brooklyn  Bridge. 

The  northern  boundary  of  City  Hall  Park  is  made  by 
Chambers  street,  at  the  eastern  end  of  which  is  the  new 
Hall  of  Records,  a  handsome  building  in  the  Corinthian 
style.  On  the  northeast  corner  of  Chambers  street  and 
Broadway  is  the  Stewart  Building,  erected  by  the  late  A. 
T.  Stewart  for  his  wholesale  dry  goods  business,  but  now 
given  up  to  offices,  many  of  which  are  rented  by  the  city. 

On  the  Broadway  side  of  City  Hall  Park  stands  the 
fine  building  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  and  the 
offices  of  the  Home  Life  Insurance  Company.  A  few 
blocks  north  of  Warren  street  is  Duane  street,  leading  to 
the  offices  and  one  of  the  power  stations  of  the  New  York 
Edison  Company.  The  building  runs  through  to  Pearl 
street  and  replaces  an  earlier  building  further  down 
Pearl  street,  where  Mr.  Edison,  in  1881,  erected  one 
of  the  earliest  stations  for  the  distribution  of  low  ten- 
sion current  for  incandescent  electric  lighting.  At  the 
corner  of  Broadway  and  Leonard  street  are  the  huge  of- 
fices of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company.  Higher 
up  on  Broadway,  at  No.  621,  at  the  intersection  of 
Houston  street,  two  miles  from  the  Battery  and  one  mile 
from  City  Hall,  is  the  Cable  Building,  in  which  the  of- 
fices of  the  New  York  City  Railway  Company,  formerly 
the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  Company,  are  situated. 
This  company  controls  all  the  street  car  lines  in  the  Bor- 
oughs of  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx. 


xx/i  Introduction 

Houston  street  was  formerly  known  as  North  street, 
and  early  in  the  last  century  marked  the  extreme  limit  to 
which  the  straggling  buildings  of  the  upper  part  of  the 
city  extended.  A  commission  was  appointed  in  1807  to 
lay  out  the  upper  streets  of  the  city  and  Houston  street 
was  taken  as  the  starting  point.  It  was  decided 
to  lay  out  streets  designated  by  numbers  instead 
of  names,  running  east  and  west  and  making  twenty 
to  the  mile,  and  to  intersect  these  streets  by  num- 
bered avenues,  running  north  and  south,  giving 
seven  to  the  mile.  A  slight  protuberance  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Manhattan  Island  below  Fourteenth 
street  was  taken  care  of  by  short  avenues  designated 
A,  B,  C  and  D.  Later  on  two  additional  avenues 
were  added,  one  to  bisect  the  territory  between  Fifth 
and  Fourth  avenues,  called  ^ladison,  and  one  to  bisect 
the  territory  between  Fourth  and  Third  avenues,  called 
Lexington  avenue.  The  streets  are  called  "East"  or 
"West"  according  as  they  lie  east  or  west  of  Fifth  ave- 
nue. North  of  Houston  street,  fronting  on  the  Hudson 
River,  formerly  stood  the  country  house  and  grounds  of 
Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren,  who  married  a  daughter  of 
James  De  Lancey,  the  largest  owner  of  real  estate  in  the 
New  York  City  of  Colonial  times,  as  the  Astor  family  has 
been  in  post-Colonial  days.  Sir  Peter  called  his  resi- 
dence "Greenwich"  because  it  was  up  the  river,  and  after 
the  Revolution  his  estate  was  cut  up  into  streets  and 
building  lots  which  did  not  fit  in  with  the  chessboard 
scheme  of  the  Street  Commission  of  1807.  On  this 
account  it  is  not  until  we  reach  Fourteenth  street  that 
the  streets  run  regularly  clear  across  Manhattan  Isl- 
and. Above  Fourteenth  street  all  the  streets  on  Man- 
hattan Island  preserve  their  regularity  as  already  ex- 
plained. 

From  Bowling  Green  to  Tenth  street,  a  distance  of 
approximately  two  and  a  half  miles,  Broadway  runs  as 
straight  as  an  arrow,  its  direction  being  a  little  east  of 
north.  At  Ninth  street  and  Broadway  is  the  beautiful 
retail  store  erected  by  A.  T.  Stewart  a  few-  years  before 
his  death  in  1876.     This  is  one  of  the  few  examples  of  a 


I  II  t )'  0  d  n  c  t  i  0  n  xxiii 

building  complete!}'  encased  in  cast  iron  now  remain- 
ing.    It  is  now  occupied  by  John  Wanamaker. 

Beyond  Ninth  street,  Broadway  inclines  to  the  left, 
running  almost  exactly  due  north,  and  at  the  bend  stands 
Grace  Church,  a  beautiful  pile  of  buildings  in  white  lime- 
stCHie  with  a  marble  spire,  designed  by  the  late  James 
Renwick.  At  Fourteenth  street  Broadway  reaches  Union 
Square,  a. handsome  pleasure  ground  with  several  statues, 
including  an  equestrian  statue  of  Washington  by  H.  K. 
Browne  and  a  bronze  statue  of  Lafaj-ette  by  Bartholdi. 

Fourteenth  street  is  usually  taken  as  marking  the 
boundary  line  between  down-town  and  up-town.  The 
southern  end  of  ]\Ianhattan  Island  as  far  up  as  the  City 
Hall  is  given  up  to  finance  in  its  various  forms — banking, 
the  purchase  and  sale  of  stocks  and  bonds,  insurance,  the 
headquarters  of  the  great  industrial  corporations  and  of 
the  many  great  railway  companies.  Between  the  City 
Hall  and  Fourth  street,  Broadway  itself  and  the  area 
lying  immediately  west  of  it  is  given  up  to  the  wholesale 
dry  goods  trade.  East  of  Broadway,  however,  between 
the  City  Hall  and  Fourteenth  street,  lie  some  of  the  most 
densely  populated  districts  in  the  world,  partly  packed 
away  in  huge  tenement  houses  and  partly  in  houses  which 
were  once  middle-class  residences,  but  which  have  de- 
scended through  the  various  stages  of  "genteel"  lodgings, 
of  cheap  boarding  houses,  of  houses  where  light  house- 
keeping is  permitted,  to  the  final  stage  of  houses  where 
eight  or  ten  newly  arrived  immigrants  from  Southern 
and  Eastern  Europe  occupy  a  room  jointly.  The  East 
Side  above  the  City  Hall  toward  the  East  River  contains 
probably  the  largest  Hebrew  population  in  any  city  in  the 
world.  The  lower  end  of  Mott  street  is  given  up  to  Chi- 
nese, and  the  lower  end  of  Mulberry  street  to  Italians. 
The  great  artery  for  this  heterogeneous  population  is  the 
Bowery,  a  broad  thoroughfare,  which  runs  roughly  par- 
allel to  Broadway  and  at  some  distance  to  the  east  of  it, 
from  Chatham  Square  to  the  Cooper  Institute  at  Eighth 
street.  The  changes  which  have  passed  over  the  Bowery 
in  seventy-five  years  are  typical  of  what  is  happening 
elsewhere  in  many  other  parts  of  New  York.     Before  the 


xxi'v  I  n  t  r  o  duct  i  o  n 

Irish  famine  in  1847  the  lower  end  of  the  Bowery  and  the 
side  streets  east  of  it  were  inhabited  chiefly  by  Quakers, 
while  a  Methodist  Church  was  the  centre  of  social  life  at 
its  upper  end.  Between  1850  and  1880  the  Irish  immi- 
grants steadily  drove  out  the  original  residents.  These 
were  the  days  of  the  volunteer  firemen  and  of  "the  Bowery 
boy,"  which  made  Tammany  Hall  almost  a  purely  Irish 
organization,  and  which  gave  the  Bowery  through- 
out the  United  States  a  somewhat  unenviable 
reputation  for  fun  and  frolic.  In  1880  the  total 
number  of  alien  immigrants  into  the  United  States 
sprung  suddenly  from  177,826  the  previous  year  to 
457>257  for  that  year,  and  since  then  the  average 
number  of  immigrants  has  been  about  a  half  mil- 
lion a  year.  Nor  was  this  the  only  change.  Pre- 
vious to  1880  the  immigrants  into  this  country 
were  chiefly  drawn  from  the  northern  races  of  Eu- 
rope, Germany  and  Ireland  being  conspicuous  among 
these.  Since  1880  the  great  bulk  of  immigrants  have 
been  from  Italy,  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia.  These 
immigrants  in  turn  have  driven  out  of  the  lower  East 
Side  the  previous  Irish  and  German  residents,  so  that 
this  part  of  New  York  is  a  huge  foreign  city  in  itself, 
speaking  several  tongues  other  than  English.  Fortu- 
nately, the  splendid  public  school  system  of  New  York 
shows  its  wonderful  assimilating  effect  on  the  children 
of  these  immigrants,  who  quickly  learn  English  and  in 
many  cases  completely  forget  the  tongue  of  their  parents. 
These  changes  on  the  lower  East  Side  have  had  their 
effect  on  the  Bowery,  which,  although  still  to  a  large  ex- 
tent a  region  of  small  stores,  cheap  playhouses,  museums 
and  saloons,  is  now  virtually  in  a  transition  stage,  and 
the  probabilities  are  that  before  many  years  the  great 
width  of  this  street  will  be  taken  advantage  of  by  manu- 
facturers and  wholesale  dealers. 

Returning  now  to  Union  Square,  we  find  that  Broad- 
way makes  a  sharp  turn  to  the  left,  passing  around  the 
left  hand  side  of  the  Square.  At  the  corner  of  Sixteenth 
street  and  Union  Square  is  situated  at  present  the  splen- 
did store  of  Tiffany  &  Company,  the  jewelers  /'or  excel- 


I  n  t  r  o  d  11  c  t  i  0  n     ■  xxv 

lencc  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  This  store,  following 
the  trend  of  many  other  high-class  stores  in  New  York 
City,  is  abont  to  move  up-town  to  a  site  on  Fifth  avenue. 
Here  are  also  the  New  York  offices  of  the  Raymond  & 
Whitcomb- Company.  Between  Union  Square  and  Mad- 
ison Square,  which  lies  to  the  right  of  Broadway,  begin- 
ning at  Twenty-third  street,  are  situated  many  of  the 
finest  dry  goods  and  furniture  stores  in  the  city.  Twenty- 
third  street  itself  is  a  wide  thoroughfare  with  street  cars 
running  from  river  to  river,  and  the  block  between  Fifth 
and  Sixth  avenues  contains  many  of  the  liest  retail  stores 
in  the  city. 

Where  Fifth  avenue  and  Broadway  intersect  at 
Twenty-tliird  street,  and  lying  between  that  street  and 
Twenty-second  street,  stands  the  Flatiron  Building,  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  buildings  in  the  world.  It  meas- 
ures 171  feet  on  the  Fifth  avenue  side  by  86  feet  on  the 
Twenty-second  street  side,  these  two  sides  forming  the 
perpendicular  and  base  of  a  right  angle  triangle,  the 
hypothenuse  of  the  triangle  being  completed  by  the  Broad- 
way side.  The  building  is  twenty-one  stories,  or  about 
285  feet,  above  the  curb.  On  account  of  its  exposure  and 
on  account  of  its  great  height  and  extreme  narrowness  at 
the  north  end,  it  was  necessary  to  make  suitable  provision 
to  withstand  the  great  wind  stress,  and  its  steel  con- 
struction is  thoroughly  braced  and  stiffened  at  each  story 
by  knee  braces. 

On  the  northwest  corner  of  Fifth  avenue  and  Twenty- 
third  street  is  situated  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  which 
succeeded  the  Astor  House  as  the  leading  Hotel  in  New^ 
York  and  easily  held  its  preeminence  until  a  few  years 
ago,  when  several  larger  and  finer  hotels  were  erected 
further  up  Fifth  avenue.  Twenty-third  street  also  marks 
the  junction  point  where  Broadway,  still  inclining  to 
the  left,  crosses  Fifth  avenue.  At  Thirty-fourth  street 
Broadway  crosses  Sixth  avenue ;  at  Forty-second  street 
it  crosses  Seventh  avenue ;  and  at  Fifty-ninth  street,  the 
southwest  corner  of  Central  Park,  Eighth  avenue. 

Between  the  Battery  and  Forty-seventh  street,  a  dis- 
tance of  almost  four  and  a  half  miles,  Broadway  is  one 


XXVI 


I  II  t  r  o  d  It  c  t  i  0  n 


of  the  great  thoroughfares  of  tlie  world,  Hned  with  splen- 
did stores  and  offices  and  its  sidewalks  filled  with  bustling 
crowds  of  people.  As  already  described,  at  its  lower  end 
are  the  office  buildings  of  the  b.rge  financial  and  corpo- 
rate interests  of  New  York;   in   its  middle  portion,  be- 


The  Ansonia,   liroailway  and  ;.!i"il  Street 

twcen  City  Hall  and  Fourteenth  street,  it  is  chiefly  given 
up  to  wholesale  dress  goods  and  clothing  establishments. 
P>ctween  Fourteenth  and  Thirty-third  streets  are  many 
fine  retail  stores  and  hotels  and  some  of  the  principal 
theatres.  Between  Thirty-third  and  Forty-seventh  streets 
it   is   almost   entirely   given    up   to   hotels   and   theatres. 


I  n  t  r  0  d  n  c  f  i  o  n  xxvii 

Above  Fifty-ninth  street.  Broadway  widens  into  a  mag- 
nificent boulevard  which  continues  up  to  the  end  of  Man- 
hattan Island. 

Fifth  avenue,  which  has  long  l^een  the  fashionable 
residence  street  of  New  York,  begins  at  Washington 
Square  and  extends  to  the  Harlem  River,  which  it  reaches 
at  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third  street.  Between  Wash- 
ington Square  and  Thirteenth  street  there  are  still  some 
fine  old-fashioned  residences,  but  from  Thirteenth  street 
to  F'orty-second  street  it  is  now  almost  entirely  given  up 
to  expensive  stores,  hotels  and  clubs.  Between  Twent}^- 
third  and  Twenty-sixth  streets  it  skirts  Madison  Square, 
where  a  fine  statue  of  Admiral  Farragut  by  Saint-Gaud- 
ens  may  be  seen.  At  the  corner  of  Twenty-ninth  street  is 
the  Calumet  Club  on  the  right  hand  side,  and  on  the  left 
hand  side  at  the  corner  of  Thirtieth  street  is  the  Holland 
House,  one  of  New  York's  leading  hotels.  The  Knicker- 
bocker Club  stands  at  the  corner  of  Thirty-second  street 
to  the  right,  and  the  entire  block  on  the  left  between 
Thirty-third  and  Thirty-fourth  streets  is  occupied  by  the 
Waldorf-Astoria  Hotel,  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  hotels 
in  the  world.  On  the  northwest  corner  of  Thirty-fourth 
street  stood  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  former  costly 
residence  of  A.  T.  Stewart,  afterwards  turned  into  a  club 
and  now  torn  down  and  replaced  by  several  buildings, 
prominent  among  which  is  that  of  the  Knickerbocker 
Trust  Company. 

Between  Thirty-fifth  and  Thirty-sixth  streets  on  the 
west  side  is  situated  at  present  the  Engineers'  Club,  soon 
to  be  removed  to  a  much  finer  site  on  Fortieth  street  op- 
posite the  new  Public  Library. 

The  new  store  of  Tififany  and  Company  is  situated  on 
the  southeast  corner  of  Thirty-seventh  street  and  Fifth 
avenue. 

The  Union  League  Club  stands  on  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  Thirt\'-ninth  street  and  is  the  principal  Republican 
club  in  the  United  States  and  perhaps  the  leading  polit- 
ical club  in  the  country. 

Between  Fortieth  and  Fortj'-second  streets,  on  the 
west  side  of  Fifth  avenue  and  extending  with  its  grounds 


x.vz'i'ii  I n  t  yp  d  II  c  t  i  o  )i 

to  Sixtli  avenue,  will  stand  the  New  York  Public  Library 
(Astor,  Lenox  and  Tilden  foundations),  now  in  course 
of  erection. 

At  the  southeast  corner  of  Forty-fifth  street  stands 
Sherry's,  and  on  the  northeast  corner  of  the  same 
street  Delmonico's,  two  of  the  famous  restaurants  of  the 
city. 

At  Forty-ninth  street  on  the  east  side  the  Buckingham 
Hotel  begins,  extending  through  to  Fiftieth  street.  Be- 
tween Fiftieth  and  Fifty-first  streets  stands  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  a  large  white  marble  edifice  designed  by  James 
Renwick.  On  the  block  above  the  Cathedral  stands  the 
Union  Club,  one  of  the  oldest  and  still  the  most  fashion- 
able club  in  the  city. 

Between  Fifty-first  and  Fifty-second  streets  on  the 
west  side  are  two  Vanderbilt  residences  of  brown  stone, 
while  on  the  corner  of  the  next  street  above  is  the  resi- 
dence of  ^Ir.  William  K.  Vanderbilt.  a  handsome  house 
in  the  French  chateau  style. 

The  University  Club  is  situated  on  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  Fifty-fourth  street. 

Between  Fifty-seventh  and  Fifty-eighth  streets  on  the 
west  side  is  the  splendid  residence  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt, 
widow  of  the  late  Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 

The  large  square  in  front  of  the  entrance  to  Central 
Park  is  occupied  by  three  hotels,  namely,  the  Plaza,  the 
Netherland.  and  the  Savoy. 

Central  Park  extends  from  Fifty-ninth  street  to  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  street  and  from  Fifth  to  Eighth  ave- 
nue, and  these  boundaries  have  an  exclusive  area  of  840 
acres.  Central  Park  presents  a  beautiful  variety  of  wood, 
water  and  lawn  and  very  skillful  use  has  been  made  of  its 
natural  features  to  make  them  afiford  the  greatest 
extent  of  roads  for  driving,  for  horseback  exercise 
and  of  paths  for  pedestrians. 

Fifth  avenue  where  it  extends  along  the  east  side  of 
Central  Park  has  not  been  encroached  upon  by  business 
houses  and  many  fine  residences  stand  in  this  section  of 
the  Avenue,  including  that  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Astor  at  Sixty- 


I  II  f  r  0  d  u  c  t  i  0  n  xxix 

fifth  street  and  ^Ir.  Andrew  Carnegie  on  the  block  be- 
tween Ninetieth  and  Ninety-first  streets. 

The  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  situated  just  within 
the  eastern  wall  of  Central  Park  between  Eighty-second 
and  Eighty-third  streets,  contains  many  fine  pictures  and 
has  by  far  the  best  art  collection  in  the  United  States. 

The  beautiful  Riverside  Drive  is  a  park  which  extends 
from  Seventy-second  street  to  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
seventh  street.  Many  handsome  residences  are  built  along 
the  eastern  side  of  this  park,  while  its  western  side  runs 
down  to  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  River,  of  which  it  com- 
mands a  magnificent  view. 

THE  BRIDGES  ACROSS  THE  EAST  RIVER 

An  enormous  population  has  grown  up  on  the  Long 
Island  shore  of  the  East  River  which  has  made  it  neces- 
sary to  build  two  bridges  and  begin  work  on  two  more, 
so  that  the  tedious  travel  by  ferries  across  the  river  can 
be  avoided.  The  streets  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  in 
Brooklyn,  where  the  larger  part  of  this  population  is  cen- 
tered, converge  at  two  places,  and  the  two  bridges  already 
completed  were  constructed  at  these  points.  The  third 
bridge  is  considerably  farther  north,  at  a  place  where  an 
island  renders  construction  relatively  easy,  and  when  it 
is  finished  it  will  open  up  a  district  on  Long  Island  which 
will  be  rapidly  taken  up  for  the  homes  of  men  doing 
business  uptown  in  ^lanhattan.  The  fourth  bridge  will 
be  erected  close  to  the  first,  mainly  in  order  to  relieve  it 
of  the  traffic  which  overcrowds  it  at  present. 

The  first  structure  to  be  built  was  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge,  erected  in  1870-83.  It  was  designed  by  John  A. 
Roebling,  who  was  succeeded  successively  by  Washing- 
ton A.  Roebling  and  C.  C.  ^ilartin  as  chief  engineer.  It 
is  a  suspension  bridge  with  a  main  span  of  1,595  feet  6 
inches  and  a  land  span  of  930  feet  at  each  end.  Four 
cables,  each  15^  inches  in  diameter,  are  used  to  carrj-  the 
roadways  and  tracks,  and  six  rudimentary  stiffening 
trusses  are  provided.  The  extreme  width  of  the  bridge 
is  85  feet,  and  it  carries  a  footway  of  15!/^  feet  width,  two 
tracks  for  the  cars  of  the  elevated  railwavs  and  the  rail- 


XXX  In  t  r  0  d  11  c  t  i  0  n 

way  system  of  the  bridge  itself,  and  two  i8-foot  road- 
ways, each  of  which  is  considerably  obstructed  by  a  track 
for  trolley  cars.  ']"he  arrangement  of  roadways  differs 
materially  from  that  which  was  contemplated  when  the 
general  designs  for  the  bridge  were  prepared,  and  numer- 
ous projects  for  increasing  the  strength  of  the  structure 
and  consequently  its  capacity,  have  been  suggested.  The 
special  engineering  feature  of  the  bridge  is  the  use  of 
masonry  towers.  These  were  built  on  pneumatic  cais- 
sons which  were  the  largest  of  their  kind  w'hen  they  were 
sunk.  One  tower  is  140  by  59  feet  at  the  water  line  and 
the  other  is  140  by  56  feet.  Each  is  i"]!  feet  above  high 
water.  The  Brooklyn  tower  contains  38,214  cubic  yards 
of  masonry  and  the  New  York  tower  46,945  cubic  yards. 

The  bridge  extends  with  its  approaches  from  Park 
Row.  Manhattan,  to  Sands  street,  Brooklyn,  a  total  dis- 
tance of  6.016  feet,  and  if  the  extreme  points  of  the  ter- 
minal structures  at  the  ends  are  used  in  the  measurement 
the  length  is  7,580  feet.  This  bridge  crosses  the  river 
near  what  was  the  most  important  ferry,  before  its  con- 
struction, between  the  two  cities. 

The  William.sburg  Bridge,  also  a  suspension  struc- 
ture, coimects  the  foot  of  the  main  street  of  the  old  city 
of  Williamsburg  with  Delancy  street.  Manhattan,  which 
is  close  to  the  centre  of  a  district  employing  a  large  part 
of  the  population  having  its  home  in  Williamsburg  and 
formerly  crossing  the  river  by  three  ferries.  This  bridge 
has  a  main  span  of  i,6co  feet  and  a  land  span  at  each  end 
of  596J/  feet.  These  land  spans  are  not  suspended  from 
the  cables  like  those  of  the  Brookhm  Bridge,  but  are  in- 
dependent truss  structures. 

The  towers,  rising  about  Hi  feet  above  the  high  water 
level,  are  steel  structures  weighing  about  3.048  tons  each. 
Instead  of  one  large  caisson  and  a  single  base  for  each 
tower,  as  were  used  for  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  two  cais- 
sons and  two  masonry  piers  were  employed  for  each 
tower  of  the  Williamsburg  Bridge,  and  one  of  these  cais- 
sons had  to  be  sunk  to  a  depth  of  I07'<^  feet,  thirty  feet 
deeper  than  at  the  older  bridge. 

The   towers   carrv    four   cables,   each    18.=^ ^   inches   in 


/ ;/  t  y  0  d  21  c  t  i  o  n  xxxi 

diameter.  Two  stiffening  trusses  40  feet  deep  form  one 
of  the  most  noticeable  features  of  the  structure,  and,  when 
viewed   from   a  distance,   distinguish   it  more  than  any- 


thing else  from  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  The  topographical 
conditions  at  each  end  of  the  l)ridge  rendered  it  advis- 
able to  keep  all  the  heavy  traffic  on  one  level,  and  for  this 
reason  the  bridge  has  a  width  of  118  feet.  A  light  over- 
head deck  carries  the  footwalks  and  bicycle  paths,  while 


xxxii  In  t  r  0  d  21  c  t  i  0  71 

the  main  Hoor  has  two  tracks  for  elevated  railway  cars, 
four  tracks  for  trolley  cars  and  two  twenty-foot  road- 
ways ;  the  length  of  these  last  from  the  terminal  at  one 
approach  to  that  of  the  other  is  7,264  feet.  The  bridge 
has  about  three  times  the  traffic  capacity  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge. 

I'he  bridge  was  designed  by  L.  L.  Buck  and  built  un- 
der his  supervision,  O.  F.  Nichols  being  his  principal  as- 
sistant engineer  during  all  the  important  stages  of  the 
work.  It  was  started  in  1895  and  w-as  practically  finished 
in  1903. 

The  third  bridge  differs  from  the  others  in  being  a 
cantilever  structure,  a  type  of  construction  rendered  pos- 
sible by  the  natural  advantages  for  tower  foundations  of 
Blackwell's  Island,  over  which  it  passes  and  from  which 
it  derives  its  name.  Beginning  on  the  Manhattan  side  of 
the  river  there  is  first  an  anchor  span  of  469^2  feet,  then  a 
channel  span  of  1.182  feet,  a  span  of  630  feet  over  the 
island,  a  second  channel  span  of  984  feet,  and  finally  an 
anchor  span  of  459  feet  at  Long  Island  City.  The  towers 
■vriH  rise  a  little  over  300  feet  above  the  water  level.  The 
total  width  of  the  bridge  will  be  eighty-six  feet,  and  the 
width  between  the  centres  of  the  trusses  sixty  feet.  There 
will  be  an  upper  deck  with  two  tracks  for  elevated  trains 
and  room  for  two  more  similar  tracks  when  needed,  and 
a  lower  deck  carrying  four  trolley  car  tracks,  a  36-foot 
central  roadway  and  two  12-foot  sidewalks.  The  struc- 
ture is  particularly  noteworthy,  apart  from  its  magnitude, 
by  the  unique  connections  at  the  centres  of  the  channel 
spans,  where  no  suspended  spans  are  used,  and  for  the 
fact  that  6,000  of  the  45.OCO  tons  of  steel  in  the  super- 
structure will  be  nickel  steel. 

The  bridge  was  designed  by  Gustave  Lindenthal  while 
he  was  Commissioner  of  Bridges  of  New  York.  No 
work  has  yet  been  done  on  the  superstructure,  although 
the  masonry  has  been  partly  erected. 

The  plans  for  the  fourth  bridge,  of  the  suspension 
type,  have  not  received,  at  the  time  of  writing,  the  ap- 
proval of  all  the  authorities  who  must  pass  on  them. 
'I'his  structure  will  be  known  as  the  Manhattan  Bridge, 


1 11  t  r  0  d  u  c  t  i  o  71  xxxiii 

and  it  will  cross  the  river  just  north  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge.  It  will  have  a  main  span  of  1,470  feet  and  two 
land  spans  of  725  feet.  The  steel  towers  will  rise  about 
320  feet  above  the  water,  and  will  carry  four  cables  about 
21  inches  in  diameter,  hanging  vertically  and  not  cradled 
like  those  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  There  will  be  an 
upper  deck  with  four  tracks  for  elevated  trains,  and  a 
lower  deck  120  feet  wide  with  four  trolley  car  tracks,  two 
lo^-foot  sidewalks  and  a  35-foot  roadway.  The  two 
stiffening  trusses  will  be  24  feet  deep  and  form  a  much 
less  conspicuous  feature  of  the  bridge  than  those  of  the 
Williamsburg  Bridge. 

This  bridge  was  designed  by  O.  F.  Nichols,  chief  en- 
gineer, and  R.  S.  Buck,  consulting  engineer,  of  the  De- 
partment of  Bridges  of  the  city. 

FROM   NEW   YORK  TO    SCHENECTADY 

After  leaving  the  Grand  Central  Station  on  Forty- 
second  Street,  the  train  quicklj'  plunges  into  a  tunnel 
which  continues  for  two  miles.  Half  a  mile  beyond  the 
upper  entrance  of  the  tunnel  the  train  traverses  a  great 
steel  viaduct  with  four  tracks  which  extend  from  109th 
Street  to  Mott  Haven,  the  great  four-track  drawbridge 
over  the  Harlem,  the  heaviest  in  the  world,  being  only  a 
link  in  this  viaduct.  From  this  viaduct  on  the  left-hand 
side  an  excellent  view  can  be  had  of  the  upper  end  of 
Central  Park,  which  is  in  the  height  of  its  beauty  dur- 
ing the  month  of  ]\Iay.  Conspicuous  among  the  foliage 
stands  the  old  Mount  St.  Vincent  buildings,  now  one  of 
the  restaurants  in  the  Park. 

Immediately  beyond  the  Mott  Haven  station  the 
tracks  of  the  New  Haven  and  Harlem  Railroads  diverge 
to  the  right,  and  those  of  the  New  York  Central  follow 
the  course  of  the  Harlem  River.  After  the  train  passes 
under  McComb's  Dam  Bridge  an  excellent  view  may  be 
had  of  the  new  speed-way  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
and  of  the  Jumel  mansion  on  the  wooded  heights  just 
where  the  speed-way  begins. 

Seven  miles  out  the  train  passes  underneath  High 
Bridge,  which  carries  the  old  aqueduct  from  the  main- 


xxxiv  I II  t  y  0  d  u  c  t  i  o  n 

land  to  Manhattan  Island,  and  a  few  hundred  feet  fur- 
ther may  be  seen  the  terminus  of  the  new  aqueduct  which 
here  tunnels  by  a  deep  siphon  300  feet  below  the  river 
bed. 

The  train  now  passes  under  the  magnificent  Wash- 
ington Bridge,  constructed  between  1886  and  1890  at  a 
cost  of  $2,700,000.  with  two  central  arches  each  of  510 
feet  span,  and  a  roadway  150  feet  above  the  level  of  the 


Residence  of  Andrew  Carnegie 


river.  The  railway  next  makes  a  sharp  curve  at  King's 
Bridge  and  soon  reaches  Spuyten  Duyvil  station  on  the 
Hudson  River. 

Hitherto  the  train  has  kept  the  left  hand  tracks  on 
account  of  the  Grand  Central  Station  having  been  built 
when  nearly  all  the  railways  in  the  country  ran  their 
trains  on  the  left  hand  tracks.  At  Spuj-ten  Duyvil  the 
train  now  changes  over  to  the  right  hand  tracks,  as  is 
now-  usual  in  all  the  railways  in  the  country. 

After  passing  Spuyten  Duyvil  a  fine  view  may  be  had 


Introduction  xxxv 

of  the  Palisades  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Hudson.  These 
are  from  200  to  500  feet  in  height. 

Fourteen  miles  from  New  York  the  new  Mount  St. 
Vincent  Convent  may  be  seen,  among  the  buildings  of 
which  is  Fonthill,  formerly  the  home  of  Edwin  Forest, 
the  actor.  Two  miles  farther  Yonkers  is  passed,  and 
between  that  city  and  Tarr_vtown  glimpses  may  be  caught 
of  many  splendid  country  houses,  owned  for  the  most 
part  by  rich  business  men  of  New  "^'ork  city. 

The  order  of  the  stations  after  leaving  Yonkers  is 
Hastings,  twenty  miles  from  the  Grand  Central  Station ; 
Dobbs  Ferry,  twenty-one  miles  ;  Trvington,  twenty-three 
miles,  with  "Sunnyside,"  Washington  Irving's  old  resi- 
dence covered  with  ivy ;  and  Tarrytown,  twenty-six 
miles.  Between  Irvington  and  Tarrytown  lies  Lynde- 
hurst,  formerly  the  Paulding  INIanor,  and  more  recently 
the  residence  of  the  late  Jay  Gould. 

Thirty  miles  out  the  train  passes  under  Sing  Sing 
prison  by  two  short  tunnels,  the  town  of  Ossining  lying 
a  mile  farther  up  the  river.  Shortly  afterwards  the  train 
passes  over,  by  a  new  steel  girder  bridge,  the  Croton 
River,  from  which  the  supply  of  water  for  New  York 
City  is  taken.  The  Hudson  River  is  here  at  its  widest, 
being  four  miles  across,  and  this  part  of  it  is  known  as 
Haverstraw  Bay. 

Peekskill  is  passed  at  forty-two  miles  out,  and  the 
summer  camp  of  the  National  Guard  of  the  State  of  New 
York  may  be  seen  immediately  after  passing  the  town, 
while  Dunderberg  Mountain  lies  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  Hudson,  rising  to  a  height  of  1,090  feet.  Five  miles 
farther  the  .train  penetrates  Anthony's  Nose,  1,230  feet 
high,  by  a  tunnel  seventy  yards  long,  and  three  miles  be- 
yond Garrison's,  the  station  opposite  West  Point,  is 
passed,  and  Storm  King,  1,530  feet  in  height,  may  be 
seen  on  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson  six  miles  above 
West  Point. 

At  Fishkill  Landing,  fifty-nine  miles  from  New  York, 
the  terminus  of  the  New  York  and  New  England  Rail- 
road is  passed,  opposite  Newburg  and  near  the  mouth  of 
Mattewan   Creek,     Poughkeepsie,  which  is  only  a  little 


xxxvi  Introduction 

more  than  half  way  between  New  York  and  Albany,  is 
the  next  place  of  any  importance.  Beyond  the  town  may 
be  seen  the  fine  new  buildings  of  the  State  Insane  Asy- 
lum. Vassar  College,  which  is  also  situated  here,  is  not 
visible  from  the  train. 

Between  Poughkeepsie  and  Hudson  lie  many  fine 
mansions,  some  expensively  built  in  modern  style  and 
others  which  have  been  standing  since  colonial  times 
though  kept  in  excellent  repair.  Rhinecliff,  near  which 
the  country  residences  of  ex-Governor  Morton  and  John 
Jacob  Astor  are  situated,  is  passed  at  eighty-nine  miles 
from  New  York,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  lie 
Rondout  and  Kingston. 

Catskill  Station,  iii  miles  out,  has  a  ferry  which  runs 
across  the  river  to  the  town  of  Catskill,  which  is  the 
chief  avenue  of  approach  to  the  mountains  of  that  name 
which  are  here  prominent  on  the  west  side  of  the  river. 
Hudson,  115  miles  out,  marks  the  head  of  ship  naviga- 
tion though  steamboats  go  as  high  up  as  Troy. 

East  Albany  is  reached  142  miles  from  New  York, 
where  a  good  view  of  the  State  Capitol  may  be  had  from 
the  left  side  of  the  train.  Just  Ijefore  reaching  .Albany, 
the  tracks  of  the  New  York  Central  cross  the  Hudson 
River.  After  leaving  Albany  the  train  ascends  the  steep- 
est grade  of  the  New  York  Central  main  line,  after  which 
it  passes  the  large  car  shops  at  West  Albany. 

After  passing  the  158th  mile  stone,  the  first  view  of 
the  Mohawk  Valley  is  seen,  the  city  of  Schenectady  lying 
in  front  and  the  works  of  the  General  Electric  Company 
to  the  left. 


NEW  rORK  EDISON  COMPANY 


New  York  Edison  Company 

THE  New  York  Edison  Company  of  to-day  is 
the  successor  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illumi- 
nating Company  of  New  York,  the  first  cor- 
poration ever  organized  to  do  incandescent 
electric  lighting  on  a  permanent  basis.  The  Illumi- 
nating Company  was  organized  on  December  17, 
1880.  as  the  New  York  licensee  of  the  Edison  Electric 
Light  Company,  in  which  was  invested  the  owner- 
ship of  Mr.  Edison's  patents  relating  to  electric 
lighting.  The  Light  Companj^  was  organized  on 
October  16,  1878. 

AREA  COVERED  AND  SYSTEM  EMPLOYED 
The  sj'Stem  for  the  supplj^  of  electric  current 
covers  practicalh-  the  entire  Island  of  Manhattan, 
containing  21.93  square  miles  and  an  estimated  popu- 
lation of  1,900,000;  and  the  Borough  of  The  Bronx, 
having  40.65  square  miles 
and  a  population  of  625,000. 
The  Boroughs  of  Brooklyn, 
Queens  and  Richmond,  hav- 
ing 264.5  square  miles  and 
a  population  of  1,519,653, 
completing  the  City  of  New 
York,  are  not  included  in  the 
system  of  The  New  York 
Edison  Company. 

The  Edison  three-wire 
system  is  employed,  sup- 
plying low-tension,  direct 
current,     120-240    volts,     on  ''•■■irf- 

Manhattan    Island,    and    al- 
ternating      current,       three-  Isle  of  Safety  at  Fifth  Avenue 
phase,    sixty-cycle,   at   2,000     t""^  ^v  ^Z''"''    '^^^  ^"* '" 

J      J        '  >  Aew  \  ork 

3 


/f  T  h  c    N  cxv    Y  o  r  k 

volts  and  converted  locally  for  distribution  from  a 
secondary  network  at  120-240  volts,  is  supplied  in 
The  Bronx.  The  Manhattan  system  is  entirely  under 
ground,  the  Bronx  system,  with  slight  exceptions,  is 
overhead. 

GENERATING  AND  SUB-STATIONS 

The  steam  generating  stations,  which  also  dis- 
tribute current  locally  are: 

53-55-57  Duane  street  extending  to  Pearl  street. 

115-119  East  I2th  street. 

45-47  West  26th  street,  extending  to  27th  street. 

140th  street  and  Rider  avenue,  Bronx. 

The  Waterside  Station,  occupying  the  entire 
block  between  First  avenue  and  East  River  and 
38th  and  39th  streets. 

The  sub-stations  to  which  power  is  supplied  ex- 
clusively by  transmission  from  Waterside  Station  are: 

II   Broadway   (The  Bowling  Green). 

39-43  Gold  street. 

200  Elm  street. 

96-98  Vandam   street. 

152  Clinton  street. 

32  Horatio  street. 

452  West  27th  street. 

117-119  West  39th  street. 

1 18-122  West  53d  street. 

123  East  83d  street. 

211  West  84th  street. 

128  East  i2ist  street. 

258  West  124th  street. 

Current  is  also  supplied  for  conversion  to  the 
Bronx  Station  at  140th  street  and  Rider  avenue. 
Two  new  sub-stations  are  in  the  course  of  erection, 
one  at  44-46  West  27th  street,  another  at  167-169 
West  107th  street.  With  the  exception  of  the  Bowl- 
ing Green  plant,  all  of  the  stations  supplying  current 
to  the  Edison  network,  are  the  property  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Company,  and  each,  with  rotaries  and 
storage  batteries,  is  fully  equipped   as   a  permanent 


Electrical    Handbook 


centre  of  supply.  The  steam  generating  stations 
are  also  equipped  in  part  witli  rotaries  and  storage 
batteries. 

CAPACITY  OF  PLANTS 

In  aggregate  ground  area  these  properties,  includ- 
ing the  new  Waterside,  have  229,549  square  feet,  of 
which  39,500  square  feet  be- 
long to  tlie  present  Water- 
side Station.  The  steam 
generating  stations,  exclu- 
sive of  the  Waterside  Sta- 
tion, aggregate  13,832  horse- 
power in  boilers,  21,875 
horse-power  in  engines,  14,- 
600  kilowatts  in  generators, 
and  132,000  ampere  hours, 
135  volts,  at  a  three  hour 
discharge  rate,  in  storage 
batteries.  With  the  Water- 
side added,  the  rated  boiler 
capacity  is  increased  to  50,- 

232  horse-power,  the  nor-  ^^^^^^^^  p^^^  ^^^  g^^^^^ 
mal  engine  capacity  to  82,-  Lighting  developed  by  The 
375  horse-power,  and  that  of  ^ew  York  Edison  Company 
the  generators  to  53,100  kilowatts.  One  of  the  two 
storage  batteries  in  the  Waterside  Station,  of  6,000 
ampere  hours,  135  volts  at  a  3  hour  discharge  rate, 
is  devoted  exclusively  to  the  field  excitation  of  the 
generators. 

The  sub-stations,  containing  7  motor  generators — 
3  of  150  kilowatts  and  4  of  500  kilowatts — and  57 
rotary  converters — 2  of  400  kilowatts,  22  of  500  kilo- 
watts and  2)Z  of  1,000  kilowatts — have  an  aggregate 
capacity  of  47,250  kilowatts.  Four  2,000  kilowatt 
rotaries — the  largest  yet  made — are  in  the  course  of 
installation.  The  22  storage  batteries  in  the  sub- 
stations have  a  total  capacity  of  44,000  amperes — 
132,000  ampere  hours — at  the  three  hour  discharge 
rate,  and  it  is  estimated  that  at  the  end  of  the  pres- 


The   N  ezv    York 


5500IJ 

— P- 

_ 

— 

_ 

_ 

^ 

__ 

_ 

_ 

_ 

__ 

_ 

_ 

_ 



iMM  ['  i-'  i  '  ''  ^  ■:.    •'•'    :^  "iMiMiiii —^ 

M    1    !    i    t    '    j    .    i    1    1    >    :    1    ■    •    1    '    •    1    ,                     1                    ;        1    1    1    <    1        i    1    !    1  ■             i 

SOOOO 

1   1   1   I   1   1   '   t   '   '   1          1       ■                       '      1   i   ■   i   ;   '  ■'   '   '   .      M   i   1   1   ;   1   i   '   !   .   ■ 

1    1    1    !    j 

LOAD  DIAGRAM 

'    ■       i    '    '  A  1    '        I'M 

I  1 

, 

I'M 

1   •   1      1  '    /\'  '"!  i   1  I.I 

Ml 

HE  NEW  YORK  EDISON  CO. 

i.-puT  TO  ■-Ov;  TENSION  PC£Dt«S 
Dec  9r»  1903 

M      1   1  /A  '  '  ■  1   t"'"' 

[     ; 

M   1   1    T 

43000 

1  ' 

j  j  J  I  {  j      \  ;      \      \ 

" 

j    ;    1    1    1  /         \  '        1    '    ' 

-J- 

..j_j_ 

1  1 

1    j    1    i    1  /'    ■      1         t    ) 

-f- 

1      ]      1 

MM 

'    1    i    '     1           I'M 

"T 

1  !  M     M  1  '  '  1  '  •  M  ■  M  '  1  '  1  '■ 

Ml'    /    ■  '  \      M 

i 

^ 

JOOOO 

M   ^   :   M   '   1   1      ■   ^   ;   '   M   1   1      .    1   ^   1   :       !.''''■       M   ' 

'  '  1  '  '  M  ■  ^  ■    '  '  '      '        ■  1  1  1  M    1  i  '  '  / '    '      1 

i 

1  ,    i  ■  1    •  :  !     ■  ;     1  .  ,  .  ,  ,  :  1  ,  M  1  '  '  '  '    1      ,   4-rr 

■ 

M     Ml 

i     •  1     •  1  M  ■     M  ,  ;  i  '    /           1:  ' 

35000 

M     Ml 

1        1    ■■    1    1    ■    1    i        M    !    .    M    .    1    ,    ,    ,    ,    ,      /,        1 

M     III 

1     M  .  1  ;  I  M  i  M  ,  ,  1     ;             /    M 

■ 

MM 

1    ■        '    '    i    1    '    '    '    '    !    1        1    '    1      /     I    I    ' 

I 

III'    1 

1  1  :      ,  1  M  ;  • .    M  1  1      M  1  /    M  1 

1 

1  M  1  M  M 

;  M  M  1     M  1     ;  1  1  1     \  \  '/.     i  M 

1 

i 

P  30000 

-     M    i   1   i    M   1 

M  M  1  1      1  1  i         ;l        1  l/l      1  M 

1 

1     1    i     (    I     1 

M   ;  ■  ;  1  1  M  M  M  1 

jy  i  :  Mj 

'I'M         '     1         ''It             I     J     -     '     1     ( 

r 

1 

S' 

% 

1     1     1     !     t     1          1     ;          '     1     1     1     i     '     ty- "i  —  -t 

/ 

1 

1     t     1     j     1     1     ,     '.     1     '     ■     1     1     1     *         jTi     i     1     1     \ 

/ 

■ 

S  35000 

!  1  i  j  1  i  !  '  :  :  ■  ;■  '      1  y    ■  M  i  Al  ;  1  M 

\ 

1      i  1      1      1 •  m/  f  M  1  liVi  '  ' 

1 

1 

!   1   1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

\ 

1        M        j        ]    1    ::,■•:    M    1    M    M    1    I    1    1 

1 

, 

20000 

MM 

n  !\i  1  i.ij 

I   i  i  i"  i  i '  ■  M  ■ '  ■/  ;  i   Mil 

lJM  I 

i\  i  j  1 

1      i   1      1      M   M   M   ■   1     /    1   1 

i  1  1  1 

1  1  1  i  '  '  '  '  <  1  1  -     '  ' 

■  1 

1  \  M 

± 

I'm 

M  \ 

13000 

M  '  1  1  1  1  i  ■      ■      Ml 

'  1  \ 

i    1    j    t         '     '     1     '    J    1     I     J    '     1     : 

1,1 

1 

\ 

1    j    1    1    1    ■',■.'■    1   1    '■'    t    1    1 

1 

\ 

i       t       i       ;       1       '       ■       >       I       1       j       1       1    /       1       1       1       1       [       1 

] 

s 

1  s 

1      1      !      '      ■      '      '                   i      1      i      '       '/'      .      1      1      1      '      1      1 

1    1 

10000 

SI  .  M  .  .  ,     M  '  '  1  /  i  M  M  ;  :  ;        Ml 

1 

1 

' 

1 

1 

1 

1   j 

\.  !  1  1     .         '  ^  '  ^  '  M  •  '  '       M  '  M  ' 

1 

1 

i   '      1   i 

1 

!\  i  1  i  1  1         X  :  i  '  ;  .  M  !     1  !  M  M 

' 

MM! 

1     1        '''=^"'V>*s.'            Z'  ■           ■      I      ■      '      1      1      1      1           '      1      i      1      1 

. 

1   1   1   <       1                <   ;       <   1   1   1   <   ;   ;   1    <   1   >   '   1   < 

i 

I    1     ,     1         ,     .     1     ,         '     !     ;     ■     1     1     1 

I'll     1 

1 

1 

i 

i  j  M      i  M   '  M      ,  i  M 

i      ' 

1 

1 

j 

1  ,  1 

1 

i      ■   1 

til'           1      j      1      '      1      1 

0 

1      f      1      '      1      1      1      1      '      !      i 

M  M  II  1 

1  i  1  i     Ml 



Electrical    Handbook  / 

ent  year,  1904,  at  the  one  hour  rate,  the  aggregate 
battery  capacity  will  equal  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
the  combined  capacity  of  the  various  plants  of  the 
Companj'. 

CURRENT  GENERATED 

For  all  the  generating  stations  the  maximum  load 
on  Manhattan  Island  during  1903  was  359.46o  am- 
peres, which  at  the  average  station  pressure  of  140 
volts,  equalled  50,600  kilowatts.  Contrasted  with 
this  is  the  maximum  load  upon  the  Bronx  station, 
which  reached  1,540  kilowatts.  It  is  expected  that 
the  Manhattan  Island  maximum  of  1904  will  approxi- 
mate 425.000  amperes  at  140  volts.  The  output  of 
the  generating  stations  on  Manhattan  Island  during 
1903  aggregated  131,000,000  kilowatt  hours.  The 
ratio  of  maximum  load  to  connected  installation  was 
36.6  per  cent.:  a  percentage  which  has  been  decreas- 
ing from  year  to  year  with  increased  concentration 
in  the  generation  of  current  and  greater  diversity  in 
the  purposes  for  which  it  has  been  einployed.  The 
average  load  on  the  Waterside  station  for  the  maxi- 
mum day  of  1903,  December  24th,  was  21,535  kilo- 
watts, a  load  factor  of  56  per  cent,  of  the  twenty-four 
hour  capacity;  the  average  for  the  month  of  Decein- 
ber  was  18,059  kilowatts,  47  per  cent,  of  the  capacity. 

INSTALLATIONS  SUPPLIED. 
Current  is  supplied  through  more  than  42,000 
meters,  to  installations  aggregating  1.507,342  incan- 
descent lamps,  19,386  arc  lamps,  85,072  horse-power 
in  motors,  and  2,000  kilowatts  in  customers'  storage 
batteries,  heating  and  cooking  appliances  and  experi- 
mental apparatus.  Of  the  arc  lamps  3,126  are  sup- 
plied for  the  municipalit3^  The  aggregate  of  these 
installations  is  the  equivalent  of  2,955.214  lamps  of 
sixteen  candles,  each  averaging  50  watts. 

THE  DISTRIBUTING  SYSTEM 
At  the   end  of   1903  the   underground  system   ag- 
gregated 334.67  miles  of  mains,  152.82  miles  of  low- 
tension  feeders,  and  107.44  rniles  of  cable  in  the  high- 


ISE  Hn  nu  Ebua  Ca 


^V:.Tf 

'._'-'. 

2^ 

The  Kdison  Sxsteiii 
tan   Island 


7  //  e    New    y  0  r  k 

tension   transmission    system,    a   total   of 
594.93  miles.     The  Edison  tube  mains  ag- 
gregate   171.06   miles;    the    feeders    65.52 
miles;  the  remainder  of  the  system  is  of 
three-conductor    cable    enclosed    in    iron 
or    vitrified    clay    duct    subways.     When 
the  original   Pearl   street  station  started 
there  were   45/2   miles   of 
feeders  and  10^  miles  of 
mains — all    two    wire — in 
Edison     tubing.       The 
present    tube    system    is 
maintained  carefully,  but 
otherwise      in      all      new 
work    cable    is    used    ex- 
clusively, both  for  mains 
■"and    feeders.       Cable      in 
iron    ducts    is    also    used 
for    the    service    connec- 
tions.   The  .overhead  sys- 
tem of  the  Bronx  equals 
about  350  miles  of  over- 
head circuits. 

All  cable  mains,  single 
conductor,  are  stranded 
and  each  conductor  has 
an  area  of  200,000  circu- 
lar mils.  In  special  in- 
stances, where  the  main 
acts  as  a  tie  between  im- 
portant points  or  where 
a  large  installation  is  to 
be  served,  larger  sizes — 
350,000  circular  mils  and 
over  —  are  used.  Some 
single  buildings  have  as 
many  as  four  services, 
each  having  an  area  of 
1,000.000  circular  mils, 
or  about  one  inch  cross 
section.  In  such  in- 
in  Manhat-      Stances,    several    feeders 


Electrical    Handbook  Q 

will  converge  nearby  on  the  local  network,  which 
will  be  tied  together  and  strengthened  in  every  pos- 
sible way. 

SERVICES 

In  all  instances  the  services  are  brought  into  the 
building  to  be  supplied  at  the  expense  of  the  Com- 
pany. They  terminate  on  or  near  the  front  wall  in 
a  switch,  by  which  the  entire  supply  may  be  con- 
trolled. Fusible  safety  devices  are  installed  at  this 
point  to  cut  off  the  current  instantaneously  should 
trouble  develop  on  wiring,  fixtures  or  apparatus. 
In  usual  practice  the  meter  will  be  placed  near  the 
service  end,  in  a  position  insuring  dryness  and  free- 
dom from  vibration,  and  otherwise  favorable  for  the 
accurate  measurement  of  current. 

As  the  Edison  tubes  are  supplied  in  lengths  of 
about  twenty  feet — the  width  of  a  city  lot — they  are 
adapted  to  the  convenient  installation  of  an  inde- 
pendent service  connection  for  each  building.  The 
iron  pipe  and  tile  duct  systems  have  handholes 
placed  in  the  branch  lines,  accessible  from  the  street 
by  removing  an  iron  cover,  from  which,  placed  short 
distances  apart,  building  connections  may  be  con- 
venientl}''  made. 

NUMBER  AND  SIZES  OF  FEEDERS 

The  outside  conductors — those  of  positive  and 
negative  polarity — of  the  Edison  tubing  reach  a 
maximum  size  of  1,000,000  circular  mils;  the  neutral 
conductor  of  these  feeders  has  about  one-third  of 
this  capacity.  For  other  than  tie  purposes  between 
stations,  these  feeders  rarely  exceed  a  length  of  one 
mile — under  usual  conditions  about  the  greatest  dis- 
tance of  economical  supply  at  240  volts  pressure. 
The  cable  feeders  are  concentric,  two-conductor,  one 
for  each  polarity.  The  neutrals  of  these  feeders  are 
contained  in  independent  cables  of  2,000,000  circular 
mils,  following  the  "tree"  method,  each  being  com- 
mon to  a  number  of  feeders,  thus  providing  at  any 


10 


The    N  c  %v    York 


iit-'h    tension    gallery,  83rd   Street   Station 


Electrical    Handbook 


II 


given  point  very  much  larger  conducting  capacity  in 
the  event  of  serious  disturbance  in  the  "balance"  of 
the   system.     On  the   low-tension   network  there   are 


:SS2S££S:3sSSSSS£SSS;SS          1 

n 

P 

^ 

^ 

^ 

p 

p 

p 

^ 

ri 

f^ 

f^ 

^ 

p^ 

=^ 

r^ 

pi 

p 

pi 

p 

,0. 

— 

— 

^ 

T./ 

Gl 

;  c 

H 

kK 

r 

- 

— 

- 

- 

- 

- 

— 

- 

1 

6oa 

T 

Hf 

ffl 

ts< 

" 

ICf 

vs 

r£i 

t. 

1 

- 

- 

1 

_oL| 

W5 

TT> 

N. 

- 

- 

- 

- 

,• 

/ 

h 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

L 

f 

/ 

- 

-f 

/ 

/ 

/ 

►« 

'^ 

^ 

ZOO 

20O 

/ 

f 

5> 

<o-^ 

T>1« 

It; 

WiWl 

— 

/ 

^ 

^ 

—J 

^ 

^ 

,00 

/ 

' 

"■ 

/ 

/ 

1*2 

Ei: 

— 

»^ 

_ 

1 

=, 

=i=^ 

■IRE 

13. 

J^ 

oLi^ 

S3S|S||S§S§|S||||||S|||          1 

now   346   feeding   points,   and   the   number   is   rapidly 
increasing. 

THE  EDISON  JUNCTION  BOX 

An  important  feature  of  the  Edison  underground 
system  is  the  junction  box.  The  box  is  of  heavy 
cast  iron,  circular  in  form,  with  tube  stubs  at  the 
bottom,  the  number  and  whether  for  mains  or  feeders 
being  determined  by  the  type  of  the  box.  It  is  en- 
losed  with  heavy  iron  covers,  one  tightly  bolted 
down  on  a  rubber  gasket,  thus  making  the  interior 
water  and  air  tight,  the  other  lying  loose  on  a  suit- 
able flange  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  inner 
cover,  maintaining  the  street  level  and  supporting 
traffic.  In  the  interior  of  the  box  are  heavy  copper 
rings  one  for  each  of  the  polarities,  which  connect 
by  flexible  cables  with  the  conductors  contained  in 
the  stubs — to  which  in  turn  mains  and  feeders  radiat- 
ing from  the  box  are  connected.  All  conductors 
make  common  connection  with  these  rings,  the  posi- 
tive and  negative,  through  safety  fuses,  which,  in  the 


12 


The    N  exv    York 


event  of  overload  arising  from  accident  or  other 
cause,  melt  and  sever  the  defective  part  from  the 
general  system.  The  neutral  series  of  conductors 
is  continuous  without  safety  fuses,  and  is  carefully 
"grounded"  at  each  box.  Thus  the  entire  system 
of  mains  and  feeders  interlocks,  and  yet  is  fully  pro- 
tected at  every  point. 

HIGH  TENSION  SYSTEM 

The  high  tension  system  began  in  the  latter  part 
of  1896,  when  cables  were  installed  for  connecting 
a  temporary  substation,  erected  at  the  corner  of 
72nd  street  and  Fifth  avenue,  with  the  high-tension 
generating  station  at  80th  street  and  the  East  River. 
The  second  installation  of  this  character  was  made 
in  1898,  one  series  of  cables  connecting  the  generat- 
ing  station   at   8oth   street   and   the   East   River   with 


High  tension  feeder  system  in  Manhattan  Island 


the  substation  on  East  83rd  street  near  Third  ave- 
nue; another  series  was  placed  in  the  Broadway  sub- 
ways connecting  the  Duane-Pearl  and  the  39th  street 
stations.  This  latter  installation  utilized,  by  invert- 
ing the  rotaries,  the  switchboard  current  of  the 
Duane  street  for  assisting  39th  street  and  39th  street 
current  for  assisting  Duane  street  as  each  movement 
became  necessary  with  the  change  in  the  loads  upon 
the  respective  stations,  there  being  some  difference 
in  the  time  between  their  maximum  loads. 

Two  or  more  cables  are  now  provided,  by  differ- 
ent subway  routes  through  their  entire  length,  be- 
tween   the   Waterside   station   and   each   station   and 


Electrical    Handbook  i^ 

substation.  In  some  instances  the  number  of  cables 
is  greater,  as  for  example,  at  Duane-Pearl  street  sta- 
tion there  are  4  cables,  and  at  26th  street  there  are  5, 
each  connected  with  the  Waterside  by  independent 
routes.  There  is  also  a  general  tie  feeder  which 
either  loops  or  tees  into  all  the  stations  and  sub- 
stations from  Duane  to  124th  streets.  This  feeder 
may  also  be  used  to  transmit  high-tension  current 
from  one  converting  point  to  another,  independently 
of  the  Waterside  station.  The  high  tension  trans- 
mission system  also  extends  into  the  generating  sta- 
tion of  the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  Company  at 
96th  street,  and  across  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  to  the 
plants  of  the  Edison  Company  of  that  Borough. 

Each  high-tension  feeder  begins  practically  at  the 
automatic  oil  switches  on  the  first  floor  of  the  operat- 
ing gallery  of  the  Waterside  station;  before  this 
point  is  reached  each  pair  of  feeders  is  controlled  by 
non-automatic  oil  selector  switches,  located  on  the 
second  floor  of  the  gallery.  The  selector  switch  en- 
ables the  connection  of  the  feeder  on  either  of  the 
two  main  busses  of  the  station.  The  control  of  the 
oil  switches  of  each  feeder  is  concentrated  on  a  feeder 
panel  situated  on  the  third  floor  of  the  operating 
gallery,  upon  which  are  also  mounted  the  various 
indicating  and  recording  instruments  belonging  to 
the  feeder.  Likewise  for  the  terminals  of  the  feeders 
at  the  converting  stations  there  are  feeder  panels, 
upon  which  suitable  switches  have  been  placed  for 
their  control  at  that  point. 

INSULATION   OF   HIGH-TENSION   FEEDERS 

Rubber  insulation  was  used  for  the  first  of  the 
high-tension  transmission  cables,  but  in  the  more 
recent  work  paper  has  been  used  exclusively.  The 
specifications  for  these  cables  were  drawn  to  insure 
the  best  utilization  of  the  subway  ducts,  and  called 
for  three  conductors,  each  aggregating  250,000  circu- 
lar mils  and  made  up  of  thirty-seven  strands  of 
copper    wire.     The    paper    insulation    is    5-32    of    an 


7^  T h  e    N  czv    Y  o  r  k 

inch  around  each  conductor,  and  the  outside  instilat- 
ing  jacket  is  of  the  same  thickness.  The  lead  cover- 
ing is  4-32  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  alloyed  w'th 
from  two  to  three  per  cent,  of  tin.  The  open  spaces 
between  the  conductors  are  filled  with  dry  jute  satu- 
rated with  an  insulating  compound  to  exclude  air  and 
moisture.  Tt  is  required  that  after  being  laid  in  the 
subway,  the  insulation  of  the  cable,  including  the 
joints,  shall  be  300  mcghoms  per  mile  at  60°  Fahren- 
heit. In  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  Subway 
Company,  each  feeder  is  subjected  to  weekly  tests. 
The  capacity  of  each  feeder  is  250  amperes  per  phase 
at  6,600  volts. 

THE  SUBWAY  SYSTEM 

The  .subway  system,  which  has  been  developed 
by  separate  corporations,  extends  through  every  im- 
portant section  of  Manhattan  Island.  It  consists 
of  iron  pipe  or  vitrified  clay  ducts,  in  groups  of  from 
two  to  thirty  ducts,  from  2.5  to  4  inches  in  diameter, 
buried  in  concrete.  Manholes  are  provided  at  each 
street  intersection,  the  distance  apart  being  about 
250  feet;  on  the  trunk  lines,  passing  through  the 
long  cross  blocks,  the  intermediate  distances  may  be 
a  little  in  excess  of  250  feet.  Handholes  serve  the 
same  purposes  where  the  subway  has  more  limited 
capacity.  All  cable  joints  are  made  in  either  man- 
holes or  handholes,  where  they  may  be  easilj^  cut  for 
testing  or  repairs.  The  man  holes  are  built  of  brick 
enclosed  with  double  iron  ventilated  covers  (the 
inner  being  locked),  ventilated  to  prevent  the  ac- 
cumulation of  gas.  Where  passing  through  the  man- 
holes the  cables  are  carefully  stacked  on  iron  racks 
fastened  to  the  walls;  those  belonging  to  the  high- 
tension  system  are  covered  with  a  wrapping  of  as- 
bestos and  galvanized  steel  tape,  which  affords  pro- 
tection from  mechanical  as  well  as  electrical  injury, 
the  latter  otherwise  a  possibility  in  the  event  of  short 
circuit  upon  other  cables. 

Extending  from   the   Waterside   station   there   are 


Electrical    Handbook  ij 

four  independent  routes  of  trunk  subways,  each  con- 
taining from  20  to  30  ducts.  Accident  in  one,  how- 
ever remote,  by  no  chance  can  extend  to  the  others. 
In  addition  to  the  Edison  tube  system,  complete 
with  junction  boxes,  there  are  308.5  miles  of  subway 
aggregating  1,656.6  miles  of  single  duct,  1,930  man- 
holes  and   15,715   handholes. 

ROTARY  STATIONS 

If  the  five  steam  generating  plants,  with  their  ro- 
tary equipment,  be  included  there  are  now  18  Edison 
rotary  and  storage  battery  substations  in  operation 
on  Manhattan  Island.  Twelve  of  this  number  are 
entirely  and  permanently  in  the  substation  class,  and 
receive  all  the  power  they  convert  from  the  high- 
tension  feeders  reaching  out  from  the  Waterside 
switchboard.  The  typical  equipment  of  all  is  much 
the  same,  although  their  capacity  varies  with  the 
needs  of  the  neighborhood  in  which  they  are  located. 
There  is  also  some  variety  in  the  interior  arrange- 
ment, but  the  practice  more  nearly  standard,  in  that 
it  more  nearly  meets  the  demands  of  economy,  efifi- 
ciency  and  convenience,  is  the  location  of  cable  vaults 
in  the  basement,  of  the  rotaries  and  low-tension 
switchboard,  including  control  of  the  end  cell 
switches,  on  the  first  floor,  of  the  statics,  induc- 
tion regulators,  and  high-tension  switches  on  a  mez- 
zanine gallery,  and  the  battery  on  a  floor  erected 
above.  In  some  instances  the  batteries  have  been 
placed  in  the  basement  and  the  switchboards,  high 
and  low-tension,  on  a  mezzanine  floor  extending 
across  the  front,  and  in  others  the  rear,  of  the  build- 
ing. In  the  26th  Street  Annex  the  rotaries  occupy 
the  basement,  but  here  for  other  than  an  entrance  or 
mezzanine  floor,  the  room  has  been  carried  to  the 
usual  height  of  a  second  story. 

The  architectural  treatment  varies  in  detail,  but 
is  in  harmony  with  the  purpose  of  the  structure. 
The  space  occupied  varies  from  one  to  two  city  lots, 
from  20  to  40  feet  in  width,  by  the  usual   depth  of 


i6  The    N  cii'    York 

loo  feet.  An  arrangement  which  combines  a  maxi- 
mum of  capacity  in  a  minimum  of  space  may  not 
from  an  operating  point  of  view  be  best,  but  in  the 
development  of  the  New  York  system  it  is  necessary 
engineering.  In  the  Annex  of  the  26th  street  sta- 
tion there  are  five  rotaries,  each  of  1,000  kilowatts 
capacity,  on  a  ground  area  of  16  by  100  feet,  including 
passageways. 

ROTARY  STATION   EQUIPMENT 

In  addition  to  the  rotary  converters  and  stor- 
age battery,  the  usual  equipments  of  a  substation 
includes: 

Static   transformers,   air   cooled. 

Induction    regulators   for   the   rotaries. 

A  booster  set  for  the  batteries. 

A  direct  current  compensator  for  the  three-wire 
system. 

A  switchboard  in  several  panels,  with  devices  for: 

(a)  High-tension   feeder  control. 

(b)  Low-tension   feeder  control. 

(c)  Rotary   converter   control. 

(d)  Battery  control. 

(e)  Indicating,  recording  and  synchronizing  in- 
struments. 

(f)  Busses,  main  and  auxiliarj-. 

COURSE  OF  CURRENT  IN  ROTARY  STATION 

Entering  the  station  the  three-phase,  6,600-volt, 
25-cycle,  alternating  current  is  received  upon  high- 
tension  feeder  switches;  from  these  connections  are 
made,  through  the  high-tension  busses,  with  the  se- 
lector oil  switches,  which  permit  any  rotary  to  re- 
ceive current  from  any  feeder;  from  this  point  the 
current  passes  over  duplex  cables  to  the  high-tension 
side  of  the  static  transformers.  Here  the  pressure  is 
reduced  to  180  volts,  alternating  current.  The  sec- 
ondary sides  of  the  transformers  are  connected 
through  the  induction  regulators  with  the  alternating 
current    collector    rings    of    the    rotaries.     I'rum    the 


Electrical    Handbook  ly 

direct  current  side  of  the  rotaries  the  path  leads  di- 
rectly to  the  low-tension  switchboard,  where  suitable 
switches  provide  that  connection  niay  be  made  with 
any  one  of  three  busses,  each  maintained  at  a  differ- 
ent pressure,  which  supply  the  low-tension,  direct 
current,  feeders. 

On  the  direct  current  side  the  normal  pressure 
of  the  rotary  converters  is  270  volts,  which  may  be 
raised  or  lowered  30  volts  by  the  induction  regula- 
tors. Any  tendency  toward  unbalance  on  the  three- 
wire  system,  which  provides  120-240  volts  at  the 
services,  is  cared  for  by  the  battery  and  compensator. 

STATIC  TRANSFORMERS 
All  static  transformers  are  air  cooled  and  stand 
of  sets  of  3-200,  3-400  and  3-800  kilowatts  respectively 
for  the  500,  1. 000  and  2,000  kilowatt  converters. 
They  are  mounted  on  a  platform  containing  the  air 
duct  for  ventilation,  in  which,  supplied  by  electric 
blowers  from  either  end,  or  both  ends,  the  air  pres- 
sure is  maintained  at  one-half  or  three-quarters  of 
an  ounce.  The  static  transformers  are  wound  for 
a  ratio  of  transformation  of  6,300  to  170  volts.  The 
later  types  contain  a  thermometer,  placed  in  the 
casing  between  the  transformer  coils,  thus  giving 
temperature  indications. 

Without  undue  heating  the  transformers  will 
operate  at  25  per  cent,  overload  for  three  hours,  or 
50  per  cent,  overload  for  one  hour,  after  a  twenty- 
four  hour  run  at  full  load.  The  efficiency  of  the  400 
kilowatt  tj'pe  is  98  per  cent.,  and  the  regulation  is 
I  per  cent.  The  use  of  electrically  operated  alternat- 
ing current  switches  on  the  transformer  switchboard, 
controlled  by  small  switches  from  the  operating 
switchboard,  results  in  shortening  heavy  cables  and 
saving  space  on  the  operating  board. 

INDUCTION  REGULATORS 
Induction   regulators   permit   a  variation  of  from 
150  to  190  volts  in  the  pressure  of  the  alternating  cur- 


i8 


The    N  eiv    York 


rent  at  the  rotaries.  Their  secondary  windings  are 
conected  between  the  secondary  side  of  the  trans- 
f(jrnicrs  and  the  collector  rings  of  the  rotaries;  their 
primary  coils  are  wound  on  a  rotor  which  by  means 
of  a  small  direct  current  or  induction  motor  con- 
trolled from  the  operating  switchboard  can  be  turned 
through  a  given  angle  in  either  direction.  These 
regulators  have  a  capacity  of  65  kilowatts  for  rotaries 
of  400  kilowatts  and  of  130  kilowatts  for  rotaries  of 
1,000  kilowatts.  Standing  upon  the  same  platform 
they  are  cooled  from  the  air  ducts  supplying  the 
static  transformers. 

ROTARY  CONVERTERS 
The   standard   sizes   of   rotaries   now   used   in   the 
substations   of  the   Company   are   6-phase,  500,    1,000 
and   2,000   kilowatts,   respectively.     They   convert   to 


2000  K\v.   Rotary 


240-300  volts  direct  current;  the  speed  is  500  kilo- 
watts, 375  revolutions;  1,000  kilowatts,  187.5,  ^"^ 
2,000,  115  revolutions  per  minute.  Some  rotaries  of 
500  kilowatts,  converting  to  240-340  volts  direct  cur- 
rent,  arc   used   but  mostly   in   the   upper   sections  of 


Electrical    Handbook 


19 


the  city,  where  a  number  of  h^ng  feeders  are  still 
necessar3^  They  are  provided  with  induction  regu- 
lators of  130  kilowatts  capacity,  which  give  them 
this  unusual  range  of  pressure. 

The  overload  capacity  of  the  rotaries  is  25  per 
cent,  for  three  hours,  or  50  per  cent,  for  one  hour, 
after  running  continuously  at  their  rated  capacity. 
The  efficiency  of  the  500  kilowatt  type  is  95.75  per 
cent.;  of  the  1,000  kilowatt  type,  96.75  per  cent.,  and 
of  the  2,000  kilowatt  type  97  per  cent. 

STORAGE  BATTERIES 
The  recent  standard  storage  battery  equipment 
used  by  the  Company  consists  of  chloride  accumula- 
tors furnished  by  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Com- 
pany of  Philadelphia.  Their  type  "H"  cell  is  vised, 
each  cell  containing  29  plates  and  being  capable  of 
discharging  500  amperes  for  8  hours,  748  amperes 
for  5  hours,  1.120  amperes  for  3  hours  and  2,240  am- 
peres for  I  hour.  The  plates  are  contained  in 
wooden,  lead-linked  tanks,  48  inches  high,  21  inches 
long  and  34  inches  wide.  They  contain  754  pounds 
of  acid  and,  including  the  acid,  the  weight  of  each 
completed  cell  or  tank  is  2,492  pounds.  There  are 
150  cells  in  each  bat- 
tery, 75  on  the  pos- 
itive and  a  like  num- 
ber on  the  negative 
side;  20  cells  on  each 
side  are  connected 
to  the  end  cell 
switches. 

A  variety  of  floors 
have  been  used  in 
the  battery  rooms. 
The  latest  installed 
have  the  regulation 
acid     proofing     o  f      ^^^^^^^^^ 

building  paper  and  WBKI^^^iUih  ■  h  u"-^-^ 
asphalt,  followed  by        r>  *.  tti     c»      *  c.  . 

^  '  •'  Battery  room.  Elm  .Street  Statmii 


20 


The    N  czv    York 


four  or  live  inches  of  concrete,  a  thin  layer  of 
asplialt  and  building  paper,  and  surfaced  with  vitri- 
fied tile  three  inches  in  thickness,  in  blocks,  each 
l)Iock  six  inches  square.  The  joints  between  the  tile 
are  very  small  and  are  filled  with  asphaltic  pitch;  the 
tile  itself,  which  is  made  especially  for  this  purpose, 
is  almost  absolutely  non-absorbent. 

It  is  now  proposed  to  try  experimentally  the  in- 
stallation of  a  plain  concrete  floor  treated  with  par- 
affine,  applied  under  pressure  at  a  temperature  of  225 
degrees  Fahrenheit.  It  is  claimed  that  by  this  pro- 
cess the  pores  of  the  concrete  can  be  completely 
tilled  to  a  depth  of  at  least  three  inches.  This 
method  of  construction,  though  as  yet  untried,  prom- 
ises to  be  more  satisfactory  than  any  of  the  others 
previously  followed. 

STATIONS 
In  the  construction  of  any  building  on  Manhat- 
tan Island,  the  most  economical  utilization  of  everj- 
square  inch  of  available  space  is  the  pressing  prob- 
lem upon  architect  or  engineer.  Being  entirelj'  sur- 
rounded by  water,  the  island  offers  opportunity  for 
extension  in  only  one  direction.  Preceding  the  ad- 
vent of  high-tension  transmission  the  advantages 
derived  from  placing  the  generating  point  in  the 
heart  of  the  district  supplied  more  than  offset  the 
advantages  incidental  to  a  posi- 
tion on  the  water  front;  hence 
the  vertical  station,  with  engines 
and  generators  at  the  founda- 
tions, and  boilers  and  coal  bunk- 
ers high  above  the  level  of  the 
street. 

Three  plants  of  this  vertical 
type  ha\e  been  created — Thirtj'- 
ninth  street,  placed  in  service 
Thanksgiving  Day,  1888,  and 
since  altered  into  a  substation  with  rotaries  and 
storage  battery,  and  facilities  for  the  arc  lamp,  meter 


iJth  Street  Station 


Electrical    Handbook 


21 


l[^^^-ni1-113ii 


and  other  departments;  the  Twenty-sixth  street  sta- 
tion, placed  in  commission  on  Christmas  Day  of  the 
same  year,  1888,  still  in 
operation,  greatly  en- 
larged, and  third  in 
size  of  the  Company's 
plants;  and  the  Duane- 
Pearl  street  plant,  ex- 
ceeded in  size  only  by 
the  Waterside,  and  con- 
taining the  general,  ex- 
ecutive and  administra- 
tive ofifices  of  the  Com- 
pany. The  Twelfth 
Street  station,  which 
followed,  was  erected 
on  horizontal  lines,  the 
engine  and  boiler  rooms 
occupying  parallel  lots 
of  ground,  but  it  was 
not  intended  that  these 
works,  somewhat  to 
one  side  of  the  electri- 
cal centre,  and  in  a  ter- 
ritory promising  only 
limited  growth  for 
a  considerable  period, 
should  be  more  than  an 


DuanePearl  Street  Station 


annex  to  the  larger  plants. 


DUANE-PEARL  STREET 

The  Duane-Pearl  street  property,  100  feet  in 
width  by  200  feet  in  depth,  facing  through  its  entire 
length  on  Elm  street,  was  purchased  late  in  July, 
1890.  Very  little  time  was  lost,  for  on  the  tirst  day 
of  August  began  the  removal  of  the  old  buildings 
and  the  excavations  for  the  new  station. 

Current  was  first  supplied  .from  this  site  on  No- 
vember I,  1890,  from  a  plant  temporarily  placed  in 
the  basement   of   a   small   brick  building   still   stand- 


2S 


The    New    York 


ing  on  the  Company's  property  at  the  corner  of 
Duane  and  VAn\  streets.  On  May  i,  1891,  coincident 
with  the  abandonment  of  the  small  annex  station  in 
the  cellar  of  a  real  estate  office  on  Liberty  street, 
previously  assisting  the  original  Pearl  street  station 
and  the  first  of  its  kind  in  existence,  a  temporary  in- 
stallation, erected  on  the  concrete  floor  of  the  per- 
manent construction,  was  placed  in  commission,  and 
continued  in  operation  until  it  was  superseded  by 
the  permanent  equipment. 


\'ic\v  of  opiratiny:  room.  Elm  Street,  looking  north 


The  width  of  the  building  is  74  feet,  with  a  depth 
of  200  feet,  extending  from  street  to  street.  Both 
fagades,  designed  to  indicate  the  purpose  of  the  plant, 
and  even  the  part  of  the  work  to  which  the  individual 
floors  are  devoted,  are  substantially  alike.  The  first 
three  floors  are  of  dressed  granite,  extending  through 
tlie  thickness  of  the  walls;  above  a  buflf  colored 
pressed  brick  is  used,  with  the  slight  attempt  at 
ornamentation  of  placing  at  various  points  multi- 
polar   generators    and    incandescent    lamps,    in    terra 


Electrical    Handbook 


23 


cotta.  Above  each  entrance  are  four  decorated 
panels  upon  which  have  been  placed  the  profiles  of 
Volta,  Ohm,  Ampere  and  Watt,  on  the  Pearl  street 
fagade,  and  Edison,  Franklin,  Henry  and  Morse,  on 
Duane  street.  The  side  walls  of  the  building,  hav- 
ing a  thickness  at  the  base  of  nearly  five  feet,  are 
almost  without  ornamentation;  the  iron  work  was 
the  heaviest  and  most  substantial  that  to  that  time 
had  been  placed  in  any  building  in  New  York.  The 
characteristic   stacks,    150  feet   high   above   the   grate 


()pcrating  room,  Kim  -Street,  showing  high  tension  gallery 

bars  and  extending  75  feet  above  the  roof,  at  the 
centre  of  the  building,  with  a  spiral  iron  stairway 
between  leading  to  an  ornamental  gallery  around 
the  top  of  each,  have  long  been  known  as  the 
"Heavenly  Twins."  Their  diameter  is  14  feet,  or 
i2i/$  feet  clear  of  the  inside  brick  lining. 

Illustrated  by  a  cross  section  view  the  interior 
arrangements  may  be  readily  understood.  The  base- 
ment, between  the  engine  foundations,  is  occupied 
largely  by  the  cable  runs  with  feeder  vaults  at  each 
end;  on  the  first  floor  are  the  engines,  generators  and 


24 


The    N  c  zv    York 


the  operating  switchboard;  on  the  second  floor,  ex- 
tending from  the  first  through  to  the  boiler  room,  is 
a  space  devoted  to  the  steam  piping,  steam  separators 
and   water   heaters;    the    shops   and    storeroom    were 

placed  originally  on 
this  floor,  but  they 
have  been  recently 
superseded  by  two 
storage  batteries  of 
large  size,  with 
booster  and  other 
auxiliary  apparatus; 
the  available  space 
on  the  third  floor  is 
occupied  by  the  ash 
runways  and  the 
boiler  feed  pumps, 
and  on  the  floor 
above  are  the  boil- 
ers; the  sixth  is  a 
mezzanine  floor, 
which,  with  the  fifth 
floor,  is  occupied  by 
the  coal  bunkers  of 
2.000  tons  capacity, 
the  main  smoke 
flues,  water  storage 
tanks  and  coal  con- 
veyor. The  seventh 
and  eighth  floors  are 
occupied  by  the  Gen- 
eral Offices,  which, 
because  of  over- 
crowding, also  ex- 
tend to  the  top  floor 
of  the  large  building 
on  the  opposite  side 
of  Duane  street.  In  addition  to  the  storage  battery 
the  present  generating  equipment  consists  of  9,133 
rated   horse-power  in   boilers.    11.800  horse-power  in 


iHiane-i'cari   Mrt 


■t   relation 


Electrical    Handbook 


25 


steam  engines — three  of  2,500,  two  of  1,250,  and  three 
of  600  horse-power — and  7,600  kilowatts  in  genera- 
tors, which,  two  to  each  engine,  correspond  with  the 
engine  sizes.  Each  of  the  two  storage  batteries  has 
a  capacit}^  of  6,000  ampere  hours.  135  volts,  at  the 
three  hour  discharge  rate,  and  the  rotarj'  converters 
have  4,000  kilowatts  of  capacit}'.  Three  2,000  kilo- 
watt rotaries  are  now  in  course  of  installation.  The 
capacity  of  this  plant  at  the  end  of  1904  will  closely- 
approximate  17,000  kilowatts. 

At  the  time  the  engines  of  2,500  horse-power, 
developed  on  the  specifications  of  the  Company's 
engineers,  were  the  largest  that  had  been  con- 
structed for  work  of 
this  nature.  This  size 
was  reached  in  three 
steps;  the  original  plans 
contemplated  an  engine 
of  600  horse-power,  and 
three  of  that  size  were 
installed;  before  the  last 
one  was  ordered,  how- 
ever, it  became  evident 
that  with  some  rear- 
rangement of  the  parts. 
the  floor  space  allotted 
was  sufficient  for  an 
engine  of  1.250  horse- 
power; and  with  the 
completion  of  this   size 

it  was  found  that  by  still  further  concentration,  par- 
ticularly in  the  rearrangement  of  the  cylinders  and 
the  use  of  a  two  crank,  four  cylinder,  quadruple 
expansion  engine,  the  allotment  of  ground  space 
would  be  sufficient  for  the  larger  size  of  2,500  horse- 
power. It  was  in  connection  with  these  engines  that 
the  Van  Vleck  disconnective  feature  was  designed, 
permitting  the  use  of  the  unit  at  proportionally  re- 
duced capacity  in  the  event  of  injury  to  any  one  of 
the  several  cylinders. 


i^ 

Vhrr^k^^r^A^  * 

. j^-— •••  '■^^^^^"■HjBI 

500  Horsepower— Duane-Pearl 
Street  Station 


26  The    X  c  zv    y  o  r  k 

The  rmiltipr)lar  generators  of  this  station  were 
also  built  upon  the  initiative  taken  by  this  Company, 
and  were  the  first  generators  of  this  class  to  be  man- 
ufactured or  installed  in  connection  with  American 
central  stations. 

The  switchboard,  like  the  remainder  of  the  plant, 
is  a  marvel  in  the  economical  use  of  space.  At  the 
outer  edge  are  the  main  switches,  field  regulators  and 
indicating  instruments  for  the  generators;  behind  on 
the  face  and  rear  of  the  board  are  the  main  busses 
and  various  connections,  indicating  instruments,  and 
switches  for  the  feeders  radiating  from  the  station. 
It  was  while  working  vipon  the  problem  of  this 
board,  searching  for  means  of  condensing  and  econo- 
mizing in  space,  that  Mr.  Van  Vleck  designed  the 
edgewise  system,  by  which  the  movement  of  the 
controlling  apparatus  was  changed  from  horizontal 
to  vertical,  resulting  in  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Van  Vleck  Edgewise  System.  The  Donshea  attach- 
ment for  switch  interlocking,  thus  insuring  abso- 
lute continuity  in  the  field  circuit  while  the  gen- 
erators are  in  operation,  was  also  designed  and  first 
utilized  in  connection  with  this  board.  A  feature  in 
the  operation  of  the  switchboard  is  that  the  move- 
ment of  anj'  of  the  apparatus  is  in  line  with  the  re- 
sult that  will  follow  in  the  generation  of  current. 
Thus,  in  raising  the  main  switch,  the  generator  is 
connected,  in  lowering  it,  it  is  disconnected;  in  rais- 
ing the  handle  of  the  rheostat,  the  pressure  is  raised 
correspondingly,  in  lowering  the  handle,  the  pres- 
sure falls;  the  upward  swing  of  the  volt  or  ampere 
meter  indicates  rising  pressure  or  increasing  current, 
the  downward  swing  the  reverse.  Another  feature 
is  found  in  the  indicating  instruments  which  hang 
side  by  side;  the  scales  and  indicators  are  in  align- 
ment so  that  any  variation  from  the  standard  pres- 
sure, or  any  change  in  the  output  of  the  generators 
or  upon  the  feeders,  is  visible  by  glancing  along  the 
faces   of   the    instruments.     .Any    deviation    from   the 


Electrical    Handbook 


27 


common  line  indicates  the  extent  to  which  the  volt- 
age or  output  varies  from  one  point  to  another. 

Some  idea  of  the  economy  of  the  space  that  has 
been  accomplished  in  this  board  may  be  obtained  in 
the  fact  that  providing  for  the  present  and  ultimate 
capacity  of  the  Duane-Pearl  street  works,  it  is  only 
40  feet  in  length. 


THE  WATERSIDE  STATION 

Originally  the  Edison  plans  for  the  supply  of  New 
York  city  contemplated  as  many  as  thirty-six  inde- 
pendent districts  and  steam  generating  stations, 
south  of  Fifty-ninth  street. 

The  limited  range  of  low-tension  distribution 
has  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  disadvantages  of 
the  system,  but  the 
advantages,  commercial 
and  technical,  were 
found  sufficiently  ofif- 
setting  to  justify  the 
development  of  the  dis- 
tributing system  of  the 
New  York  Company  on 
low-tension  and  direct 
current  lines.  The  ob- 
jections to  steam  generating  stations  in  so  many 
small  districts,  in  both  investment  and  operation,  are 
too  apparent  to  require  explanation,  yet  in  the  ab- 
sence of  polyphase  transmission  they  must  have  been 
brought  into  existence  as,  with  the  growth  of  the 
service,  stations  became  cheaper  than  transportation 
— if  the  term  may  be  used. 

It  is  fortunate,  therefore,  that  a  system  was  in 
the  meantime  developed  which,  permitting  the  con- 
tinuance of  small  centres  of  direct  current  distribu- 
tion, has,  by  the  simple  provision  of  transforming 
apparatus,  made  possible  the  concentration  of  the 
great  Waterside  Station,  economically  located  miles 
away  from  the  point  of  use. 


28 


The    N  czv    York 


a^HjHft 

:  ,     j  ,  :     '  :       :  1 

1 

/ 

i 
1 

1            T      r    -r   n 

Mil 

9 

1      1 

.     i    i    i 

■ 

\ 

i 

\ 

i 

\ 

/ 

/ 

i 

-^           \l 

CONNECTED   INSTALLATION 

i  1/ 

1.700.000 
l.«00.000 

The  Edison  Electric  llluminatiriB  Co.  of  New  York 

A.SO 

Th»  New  York  Ediso-  Co. 
1863-1903 

K 

s 

SJM.<Xo'M- 

W»E  iWC  LAl»  eOOVTtO  U  EOylv*LEKr  TO  7EJ>  M  C  *    l"iC*«"9«CENT  L>1» 
O^H.P.  or  lKm>»  COWXTEO  M  EOUrrtLEirT  t^  RFTtEl*  IIC.P.  IXOU-OC* 
DNCK-W*  OrMi*Tlf.OAPPUA».CMCOV-''EO  A«  EQWiLXvr-rOTWE'TY  ■«  C. 

/ 

».  .*C   tAI*P».          ^           J 

I 

1.100.000 

d 

1 J 

!   !   i   :   :   :   1   !   i  /   : 

^ 

1 

1    i    l/l 

\ 

1 

/          ' 

} 

\ 

'■°'°'™ 

a 

1 

y 

/ 

! 

1  V 

// 

000.000 

f 

/ 

/ 

^ 

• 

/    i 

«* 

[^ 

b-  1  ^^^^ 

\ 

m.<M 

'   'X'  ^'^"'^^^y^  1 

\ 

100.000 

B 

y>^\  jf  '     1 

> 

1 

c_ 

L.— x'**!!!---^'''^   i          iii'^^^'^rrrTrr^— ''LS:^^^   1 

i  < 

f~ 

1         " 

1 

1 

1         ' 

1         1 

1  < 

I  \ 

1   ■ 

1 

1   ! 

[          f 

1 1 

:  1 

\  \ 

1 

ii 

Electrical    Handbook  2p 

High-tension  polyphase  transmission,  in  com- 
bination with  rotaries  or  motor  generators,  made  the 
Waterside  Station  technically  possible;  the  addition 
of  storage  battery  auxiliaries,  distributed  over  many 
points  of  supply,  emphasized  its  commercial  possi- 
bilities. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in  a  lighting 
and  power  service  of  this  nature,  where  reliability 
and  continuity  of  supply  are  of  paramount  impor- 
tance, the  storage  battery  is  one  of  the  essential  fea- 
tures of  the  scheme  as  a  whole. 

This  system  being  available,  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  Company  permitted  the  Waterside  Station  quick- 
ly to  take  tinal  shape.  The  new  station  as  con- 
structed occupies  the  entire  block  situated  between 
38th  and  39th  streets,  First  avenue  and  the  East 
River,  and  when  fully  equipped  as  planned  will  have 
a  capacity  in  excess  of  100,000  horse-power.  The 
property  is  2'J2V2  by  197^/2  feet,  and  is  located  160 
feet  from  the  edge  of  the  water,  of  which  125  feet 
are  occupied  by  a  new  marginal  street.  Tunnels  for 
conveying  condensing  water  from  and  to  the  river 
pass  under  this  street.  At  the  river  edge  a  massive 
granite  bulkhead  has  been  constructed,  upon  which 
are  mounted  the  coal  receiving  towers  and  ash  pocket 
for  the   station. 

THE   BUILDING 

Romanesque  in  design,  the  building  is  Renais- 
sance in  treatment.  The  general  effect  of  massive- 
ness  is  due  to  simplicitj'^  in  lines  and  boldness  in 
detail.  The  design  consists  of  a  base,  shaft  and 
capital,  the  base  being  formed  by  a  massive  rock- 
faced  granite  water  table  containing  small  open- 
ings of  deep  reveal.  The  effect  of  the  shaft  is  se- 
cured by  continuous  vertical  arched  openings  with  a 
light  filling  of  iron  windows  and  spandrels,  the 
smaller  rectangular  openings  and  the  cornices  over 
them  forming  a  crown  to  the  general  design.  The 
walls  above  the  granite  water  table  are  of  two  shades 


30 


The    Nczv    York 


of  buff  brick  with  belt  and  sill  courses  of  red  sand- 
stone, and  a  cornice  of  terra  cotta. 

1  lore  it  is  intended  that  the  bulk  of  the  current 
required  for  the  New  York  system  shall  be  generated. 
The  steam  stations  still  in  existence,  also  equipped 
with  rotaries  and  storage  batteries,  will  operate  dur- 
ing the  "peak"  hours  of  the  year,  and  thus  the  Water- 
side Station  will  be  relieved  of  that  portion  of  the 
load.     Storage   batteries   will   also  assist  in   leveling 


station,  from  First  Avenue 

the  peak  un  the  Waterside  plant.  It  is  not  sug- 
gested that  the  load  of  this  station  is  or  can  be 
represented  by  a  straight  line,  but  rather  tliat  tiie 
advantages  of  this  combination,  together  with  the 
greater  concentration  in  generation,  the  wider  held 
of  supply  and  the  unprecedented  varietj-  of  service, 
result  in  much  closer  relation  than  is  usual  between 
average  and   maximum   demands. 

BOILER   SECTION 
That   ])ortion  assigned  tf>  the  boiler  plant,  76  feet 
in    widtli.    is    i)lain]y    indicated    in    the    architectural 


Electrical    H  a  u  d  b  o  o  k  5/ 

treatment  of  the  fagade.  The  basement  of  this  sec- 
tion contains  the  flues,  feed  pumps,  storage  tanks  and 
other  auxiliary  apparatus.  The  first  and  second 
floors  are  occupied  by  the  boilers,  above  which  are 
the  coal  bunkers,  275  feet  in  length  and  capable  of 
holding  10,000  tons.  Four  stacks  of  steel  construc- 
tion. 17  feet  in  internal  diameter,  and  196  feet  in 
height  above  the  lower  grates,  surmount  the  entire 
section.  They  are  lined  with  fire  brick,  eight  inches 
in  thickness,  one-third,  and  with  red  brick  the  re- 
mainder of  their  height.  The  brick  lining  is  in 
twenty-four  vertical  sections,  each  resting  upon 
angle  irons  riveted  to  the  shell  of  the  stacks,  between 
which  and  the  brick  there  is  an  air  gap  of  four  inches. 

BOILERS 

There  are  56  boilers  of  the  water  tube  type,  each 
18  feet  long  with  6,500  square  feet  of  heating  sur- 
face, and  rated  at  650  horse-power.  As  the  engines 
require  only  12.5  pounds  of  steam  per  indicated 
horse-power,  the  boilers  easily  develop  enough  steam 
to  meet  all  their  requirements.  As  divided  there  are 
28  boilers  on  each  floor,  standing  in  two  rows,  in 
batteries  of  two  each,  facing  an  aisle  30  feet  wide. 
They  are  designed  for  225  pounds,  and  now  operate 
at  200  pounds  pressure  per  square  inch.  There  is 
a  complete  installation  of  blowers  of  large  capacitj' 
for  forced  draft,  and  20  of  the  boilers  are  provided 
with  automatic  stokers  with  the  necessary  auxiliarj' 
apparatus  for  their  operation.  The  remainder,  in 
which  anthracite  coal  is  used  exclusively,  are  fired  b}' 
hand. 

COAL   AND   ASHES 

Coal  is  received  and  ashes  are  discharged  at  the 
river  front.  For  the  coal  there  are  two  steel  towers 
on  the  bulkhead,  both  equipped  with  clam-shell 
buckets,  each  of  i'/  tons  capacity.  By  means  of 
these  buckets  the  coal  is  taken  froin  the  boats, 
moored  alongside,  lifted  to  and  deposited  in  large 
receiving   hoppers,  one   on    each   tower.      From    the    re- 


32 


The   New    York 


ceiving  hoppers,  by  means  of  a  belt  conveyer,  the 
coal  passes  to  weighing  hoppers  at  the  base  of  the 
inclined  bridge,  upon  which  there  is  a  bucket  con- 
veyer for  lifting  the  coal  to  and  depositing  it  in  the 
bunkers  at  the  top  of  the  boiler  section.  Beneath 
the  receiving  hopper  is  a  crusher  for  reducing  the 
soft  coal,  or  in  cold  weather  frozen  lumps  of  hard 
coal  to  a  uniform  size.     The  crusher  is  provided  with 


Tf^Pi" 


Sectional  view  of  the  W  aterside  Station 


a  by-pass  reached  through  a  screen  so  that  coal  of 
less  than  a  pre-determined  size  does  not  go  through 
it.  The  conveyer  over  the  bunkers  is  provided  with 
tripping  devices,  causing  the  buckets  automatically  to 
turn  and  deposit  their  load  at  any  desired  point. 
Electric  power  operates  the  crushers  as  well  as  the 
conveyers.  Either  hard  or  soft  coal  may  be  received, 
and  to  safeguard  against  interruption  in  the  supplj'. 
the  entire  plant  is  in  duplicate.  From  barge  to 
bunker  the  hourlj-  capacity  is  150  tons. 

As  has  been   stated,  ashes   are   discharged   at   the 
river   front.     The    ashes    and   the    deposits   from   the 


Electrical    Handbook 


33 


combustion  chambers  fall  through  chutes  from  the 
floors  above  to  cars  in  the  basement  of  the  boiler 
section,  by  which  they  are  transported  to  a  receiv- 
ing hopper.  From  this  point  they  are  carried  by  a 
bucket  conveyor  to  a  receiving  pocket  on  the  bulk- 
head, constructed  entirely  of  steel  and  concrete,  and 
providing  for  nearly  a  week's  accumulation  of  ashes. 
The  scows,  which  carrj'  from  two  to  three  days'  ac- 


Ground  plan  of  the  Waterside  Station 

cumulation,  are  fully  loaded  by  a  chute  extending 
from  the  hopper,  in  three  or  four  hours.  This  ar- 
rangement permits  of  a  more  economical  use  of  the 
bulkhead,  the  coal  barges  occupying  it  in  the  day- 
time, the  ashes  having  their  turn  at  night.  The  bulk- 
head is  equipped  with  electrically  operated  capstans, 
and  other  conveniences  for  handling  the  boats. 


THE  MAIN  OPERATING  ROOM 
The  engine  or  main  operating  room  is  115  feet 
wide,  267  feet  10  inches  long  and  to  the  monitor  at 
the  centre  of  the  roof  nearly  125  feet  in  height.  Run- 
ning the  entire  length  of  the  south  side  are  five  gal- 
leries devoted  to  the  offices,  shops  and  storerooms  of 


34 


T  he    N  c  zc    York 


the  plant;  on  the  westerly  side,  four  stories  high,  en- 
closed in  glass,  are  the  electrical  operating  galleries. 
Sixtj'-cight  feet  above  the  floor  are  the  tracks 
supporting  two  travelling  cranes,  one  having  a  lifting 
capacity  of  50,  the  other  of  25  tons,  and  both  a  span 
of  98  feet.  In  addition  to  their  main  hoists,  each 
crane  is  equipped  with  a  whip  hoist  of  five  tons. 
These  cranes  travel,  fully  loaded,  at  a  speed  of  150 
feet,  and  lightly  loaded  200  feet  a  minute.  The  hoist 
speed,  fully  loaded,  is  25  and  lightly  loaded  40  feet 
a  iTiinute. 

In  the  basement  under  the  operating  room  are  the 
condensers  and  their  auxiliarj^  apparatus,  ducts  con- 
taining the  cables  from  the  generators  to  the  operat- 
ing galleries,  the  feeder 
runs  to  the  cable  vaults 
under  the  sidewalk  on 
the  First  avenue  side, 
and  two  standard  bat- 
teries, one  for  the  local 
district  service.  the 
other  insuring  constant 
potential  on  the  field 
excitation  bus,  occupy 
a  section  extending  the 
length  of  the  building 
on  the  38th  street  side.  The  oil  filters  and  pumps 
are  also  located  in  the  basement.  Below  the  level 
of  the  basement  floor  are  the  condensing  tunnels 
leading  to  and  from  the  East  River. 


A  section  of  the  condensing 
tunnel  construction 


ENGINES 

It  was  intended  originally  to  install  16  engines 
of  the  vertical  marine  tj-pe,  three  crank,  with  one 
high  and  two  low  pressure  cylinders.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  steam  turbine  in  the  larger  units  has 
made  it  seem  desirable  to  modify  these  plans  some- 
what, and  at  least  a  portion  of  the  equipment  will 
consist  of  turbines  and  their  auxiliary  apparatus. 

In    diameter   the    high    pressure    cylinder   of   each 


Electrical    Handbook 


35 


engine  is  43'/^  inches,  the  low  pressnre  78!^  inches. 
The  stroke  is  60  inches.  With  175  pounds  of  steam 
pressnre  at  the  throttle,  27  inches  of  vacuum  and  75 
revolutions  per  minute,  at  the  most  economical  load 
the  engines  indicate  between  5,200  and  5,500  horse- 
power. They  are  capable,  however,  of  a  sustained 
load  of  8,000  horse-power,  and  of  an  ultimate  ca- 
pacity, at  the  maximum  cut-ofif  of  five-eighths  of  the 
stroke,  of  10,000  horse-power.  The  engine  shaft, 
which  is  hollow,  i.s  nearly  30  inches  in  diameter;  to 
give  a  uniform  turning  motion, 
the  three  cranks  are  set  at 
angles  of  loi,  126  and  122  de- 
grees; the  flywheel  weighs  90,000 
pounds,  and  is  twenty-three  feet 
in  diameter.  The  load  or  speed 
of  any  engine  when  running  in 
multiple  can  be  varied  by  the 
adjustment  of  the  governor 
mechanism  by  an  electric  inotor 
controlled  from  the  operating 
gallery.  In  the  event  of  acci- 
dent there  are  emergency  valves  which  permit  the 
engine  to  be  shut  down  immediately;  should  the 
speed  become  excessive,  there  is  a  centrifugal  device 
in  the  crank  which,  automatically  tripping  a  pilot 
valve,  closes  the  large  valve  in  the  main  steam  line. 
The  main  steam  pipes  to  the  engines  are  16  inches 
and  the  exhaust  outlets  between  each  low  pressure 
cylinder  and  the  condensers  are  26  inches  in  diame- 
ter; each  condenser  contains  3,700  tubes  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  has  an  aggre- 
gate cooling  surface  of  9,200  square  feet.  Oil  is  sup- 
plied from  a  reservoir  which,  through  a  system  of 
piping,  connects  with  each  oil  cup  and  bearing.  Be- 
tween 15,000  and  20,000  gallons  of  oil  are  in  constant 
circulation  through  this  system.  The  oil  runs  from 
the  collecting  pans  of  the  engines  to  oil  filters  in  the 
basement,  from  which  it  is  pumped  to  the  reservoir 
at  the  top  of  the  building. 


8000  Horse-power  at  the 
Waterside  Station 


36 


The    N e  w    York 


GENERATORS 
Directly  connected  to  the  engines  the  generators 
are  of  the  revolving  field  type.  They  are  rated  f(jr 
continuous  operation  at  3,500  kilowatts,  307  amperes 
per  phase  at  6,600  volts;  they  possess  an  overload 
rating  for  three  hours  of  400  amperes,  and  for  short 


One  of  the  Waterside  tienerators 


periods  are  capable  of  sustaining  an  overload  which 
is  limited  only  by  the  capacity  of  the  engine.  Three 
phase  current  at  6,600  volts  is  generated;  each  unit 
has  forty  poles,  and  running  at  seventy-five  revolu- 
tions per  minute  gives  a  frequency  of  twenty-five 
cycles  per  second. 

The  spider  of  the  revolving  field  is  keyed  to  the 
engine  shaft  and  bolted  to  the  hub  of  the  fly-wheel. 
Thus  upon  occasion  of  e.xcessive  strain  on  the  gen- 


Electrical    Handbook  j/ 

erators,  the  flywheel  energj'  is  transmitted  directly 
to  the  spider,  lessening  the  shearing  effect  upon  the 
keys.  The  field  windings  are  of  copper  ribbon  set 
on  edge,  and  give  full  excitation  at  220  volts,  mak- 
ing it  possible  to  take  the  exciting  current  from 
the  local  low-tension  switchboard,  as  well  as  from 
the  storage  battery  and  motor  driven  exciter  set. 
The  field  current  passes  through  two  iron  collector 
rings — iron  because  of  its  superior  wearing  quali- 
ties— for  which  carbon  brushes  give  ample  carrying 
capacity.  The  armature  is  built  of  laminated  steel 
and  the  armature  coils  are  form  wound,  placed  in 
slots  and  held  there  by  wooden  wedges  dove-tailed 
into  the  outer  edges.  The  revolving  field  weighs 
130,000  pounds,  and  the  armature  125,000  pounds,  a 
total  weight  for  each  generator  of  255,000  pounds. 

By  test  the  actual  efficiency  for  one-quarter  over- 
load is  97.2  per  cent.;  full  load  97  per  cent.;  three- 
quarter  965/2  per  cent.,  and  half  load  95^4  per  cent. 
The  regulation  is  such  that  if  the  full  load  be  sud- 
denly thrown  off,  the  rise  in  the  voltage  of  the  gen- 
erator will  not  exceed  8  per  cent. 

FIELD  EXCITATION 
Each  exciter  set,  of  which  there  are  three  in  the 
station  and  a  fourth  in  course  of  installation,  con- 
sists of  a  225  horse-power,  6,600-volt,  3-phase,  induc- 
tion motor,  directly  connected  to  a  150-kilowatt,  di- 
rect current,  four-pole  generator  giving  a  potential 
of  200-280  volts.  A  storage  battery,  occupying  the 
vault  on  the  38th  street  side  of  the  building,  insures 
absolute  continuity  in  the  exciting  current.  The  bat- 
tery alone  is  capable  of  exciting  the  fields  of  six- 
teen generators  for  one  hour. 

THE  SWITCHBOARD 

The  controlling,  indicating  and  recording  features 

of  the  electrical  equipment  of  the  station  are  confined 

to  a  series  of  galleries  occupjnng  the  entire  westerly 

end    of    the    structure.     On    the    main    floor    are    the 


3S 


The    N  ezv    York 


motor  driven  exciters,  their  switchboards  and  the 
controlling  and  indicating  devices  for  the  supply, 
control  and  record  of  the  low-tension  direct  current 
distributed  locally  from  this  station.  The  rheostats 
of  the  exciter  sets  are  located  on  a  mezzanine  gal- 
lery directly  beneath. 

On  the  first  gallery 
are  the  automatic  oil 
switches  controlling  the 
feeders,  and  the  trans- 
formers for  the  opera- 
tion of  their  indicating 
and  recording  instru- 
ments. The  main  oil 
switches  controlling  the 
generators  are  also  on 
this  galler}-.  On  the 
gallery  above,  the  sec- 
ond, are  the  group 
selector  switches  con- 
trolling groups  of  two 
feeders,  b}'  which  any 
group  may  be  placed 
on  either  of  the  busses 
of  the  station,  and  the 
field  rheostats  of  the 
generators. 

The  gallery  above, 
the  third,  is  the  main 
operating  gallery  of 
the  station.  At  the 
rear  is  the  bus  house, 
above  which  are  the  generator  selector  switches,  by 
which  any  generator  may  be  placed  on  either  of  the 
station  busses.  At  the  front  of  the  gallery,  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  operator  faces  and  has  in  full  view 
the  machinery  of  the  station,  are  the  various  switches 
and  indicating  and  recording  instruments  incidental 
to  and  essential  for  the  operation  of  the  generators. 
Each   generator   is  controlled    from   a   pedestal   upon 


Sectional  view  of  the  Switch  gal- 
leries at  the  Waterside  Station 


Electrical    Handbook  59 

which  are  mounted  the  controlling  switches  and  ap- 
paratus, directly  above  which  is  a  vertical  panel  con- 
taining all  the  instruments  relating  to  that  gen- 
erator. The  instruments  on  each  generator  panel 
consist  of  a  recording  wattmeter,  giving  a  summa- 
tion of  the  output  of  the  generator;  a  voltmeter, 
two  ampere  meters,  an  indicating  wattmeter,  a  field 
ammeter,  a  power  factor  indicator,  a  synchroniz- 
ing lamp,  and  the  signal  lamp  connected  to  the  over- 
load relay.  There  are  also  illuminated  signals  by 
which  orders  are  transmitted  from  the  operator  on 
the  gallery  to  the  engineer  in  charge,  or  I'ice  versa. 

Above  the  operator's  desk,  in  the  centre  of  the 
gallery,  are  located  the  frequency  indicators,  sta- 
tion voltmeters  and  sjmchronizers.  At  this  point 
are  also  located  the  ground  detectors,  which  by 
means  of  relay  circuits  cause  a  bell  to  ring  should  a 
ground  develop  at  any  point  on  the  system.  Behind 
the  operator,  at  the  rear  of  this  gallery,  each  feeder 
is  provided  with  a  vertical  panel,  upon  which  are 
mounted  the  switches  controlling  the  motors  oper- 
ating the  feeder  switches,  a  recording  wattmeter, 
three  ainpere  meters,  a  power  factor  indicator  and 
the  time  limit  overload  relays. 

At  one  side  of  this  gallery  is  stationed  the  sj'Stem 
operator,  upon  whom  depends  the  distribution  of 
current  between  all  the  stations  and,  substations  of 
the  Company  in  conjunction  with  the  Waterside 
plant.  Upon  him  rests  also  the  responsibility  for 
having  adequate  machinery  in  operation  for  any 
emergency,  not  onl}-  at  the  Waterside,  but  in  all  the 
other  stations.  The  position  he  holds  has  been  lik- 
ened to  that  of  a  train  despatcher  on  a  great  railroad 
system. 

STEAM  TURBINES 

Three  turbines  of  the  Curtis  type,  manufactured 
bj-  the  General  Electric  Company,  each  having  a  ca- 
pacitj^  of  5,000  kilowatts,  are  now  in  course  of  instal- 
lation, and  will  be  in  service  in  time  to  assist  in  the 


40 


The    N  c  zv    York 


Fall  demands  of  this  year.     One  of  these  turbines  is  now 
in  position. 

The  first  turbine  is  of  the  two  stage  type,  with 
eight  rows  of  revolving  blades  and  six  rows  of  guide 
blades,  divided  equally  between  the  stages.  The  sec- 
ond and  third  turbines  will  be  of  the  four  stage 
variety,   having   four   sets  of  expanding   nozzles   and 


Curtis  Steam  Turbine— 5000  Kw. 


four  revolving  units,  each  unit  containing  two  lines 
of  blades,  with  one  line  of  guide  blades  between 
them. 

In  the  first  type  the  steam  is  partially  expanded  at 
the  first  set  of  nozzles,  flows  through  the  four  re- 
volving blades  and  throe  guide  blades  of  the  first 
wheel,  and  expansion  is  then  finished  in  the  nozzles 
between  the  stages.  The  steam  then  passes  through 
the   four  revolving  blades  and  three  guide  blades  of 


Electrical    Handbook  41 

the  second  stage  into  the  exhaust  chamber  in  the 
base  of  the  turbine,  and  there  passes  into  the  con- 
denser, standing  beside  the  turbine  and  of  about  the 
same  height. 

Communication  is  established  between  the  tur- 
bine and  the  condenser  by  a  rectangular  pipe,  having 
an  area  of  about  fifty-two  square  feet.  The  con- 
denser is  of  the  Wainwright,  even  flow,  type,  and 
is  capable,  while  condensing  120,000  pounds  of  steam 
per  hour,  of  maintaining  a  vacuum  of  one  pound 
absolute,  with  the  condensing  water  at  70  degrees 
Fahrenheit.  Instead  of  the  customary  glands  and 
packing,  the  tubes  of  the  condenser  are  expanded 
into  the  tube  plates — a  marked  difference  from  the 
usual  type. 

Suitable  drj'  and  wet  air  pumps  and  a  centrifugal 
circulating  pump  have  been  provided  for  this  portion 
of  the  station  equipment.  The  oiling  system  for 
the  turbines  is  provided  with  three  pumps — two 
steam  ai:d  one  electric — either  one  of  which  is  large 
enough  for  all  the  turbines.  The  required  degree  of 
oil  pressure  will  be  maintained  by  means  of  an 
accumulator. 

THE  NEW  WATERSIDE  STATION 

So  rapid  has  been  the  growth  of  the  Company  that 
it  has  become  iicccssary  to  provide  a  new  Water- 
side Station,  and  plans  have  been  completed  to  oc- 
cupy the  block  to  the  north  of  the  present  plant, 
bounded  by  39th  and  40th  streets.  First  avenue  and 
the  East  River.  It  is  expected  that  a  part  of  the 
new  station  will  be  in  operation  during  the  latter 
part  of  1905. 

As  planned,  the  building  will  be  trapezoidal  in 
shape,  having  a  frontage  on  First  avenue  of  197  feet 
6  inches,  on  39th  street  of  336  feet  and  347  feet  2 
inches  on  40th  street.  The  river  end  will  be  of  the 
same  length  as  the  First  avenue  fagade. 

The  building  will  be  divided  into  a  boiler  house 
123  feet  8  inches  wide  and  a  :nain  operating  or  gen- 


^2  The    X  c  ■tc    }'  0  r  k 

crating  room  72>  feet  lo  inclics  wic'.c.  The  boiler 
house  will  stand  on  the  SDUtherly  half  of  the  block, 
adjoining  the  corresponding  section  of  the  present 
station,  the  operating  room  occupying  the  northern 
portion  of  the  property.  The  north  side  of  the  oper- 
ating room  will  be  occupied  by  the  switch  galleries, 
each  about  15  feet  wide,  one  above  the  other:  the 
operating  gallery  will  be  at  the  west  side  of  this 
room. 

The  boiler  plant  will  consist  of  ninety-six  650  horse- 
power water  tube  boilers  divided  between  tw^o  floors, 
48  boilers  tcj  each,  arranged  on  what  maj'  be  termed 
the  cross  tire-room  principle,  in  rows  of  three  bat- 
teries, each  battery  being  composed  of  two  boilers. 
Two  of  these  rows  will  be  placed  back  to  back,  the 
flues,  uptakes  and  one  stack  being  common  to  each 
group  of  24  boilers  thus  formed.  In  the  com- 
pleted plant  there  will,  be  four  such  units  and  four 
stacks,  the  stacks  having  an  internal  diameter  of  21 
feet  6  inches,  and  rising  300  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  lower  grates — thus  exceeding  considerably  the 
height  of  the  present  stacks. 

Suitable  forced  draft  apparatus  will  be  provided. 
The  piping  from  each  boiler  group  w^ill  be  arranged 
on  the  unit  system,  with  cross  connections  availab'e 
in  case  of  accident.  It  is  intended  that  the  boilers 
shall  be  operated  at  200  pounds  pressure,  and  pro- 
vided with  superheaters  capable  of  adding  150  de- 
grees Fahrenheit  to  the  temperature  of  the  saturated 
steam. 

Either  vertical  or  horizontal  turbines  or  recipro- 
cating engines  may  be  used  in  the  operating  room. 
The  machinery  ultimatelj^  installed  at  its  normal 
rating  will  have  a  capacity  of  not  less  than  100,000 
kilowatts.  The  switchboard  arrangements  of  the 
new  station  will  follow  generallv  those  of  the  pres- 
ent Waterside  plant. 


Electrical    Handbook 


43 


COAL  STORAGE 
To  avoid  the  possibiHtj'  of  interruption  in  the  coal 
supply,  very  large  storage  capacity  has  been  pro- 
vided. Labor  questions  at  the  mines  or  on  the 
railroads,  or  storm  blockades  in  transportation  over 
the  railroads,  the  water,  or  the  city's  streets,  are 
possible  causes  of  interruption.  To  avoid  these  at 
each  step  in  its  growth  the  Company  has  made  what 
seemed  to  be  adequate  provision  for  coal  storage. 
The    original    Pearl    street    station    had    capacity    for 


Lual  -SturagL  at  .'^hady  Side,  showing  the  loading  ,-\\  ce; 


about  fift}-  tons  in  sidewalk  vaults,  equalling  about  a 
week's  supply.  The  stations  next  constructed,  26tli 
and  39th  streets,  had  bunkers  capable  of  holding 
about  one  thousand  tons.  At  Duane-Pearl  streets 
the  bunkers  hold  two  thousand  tons  and  at  the 
Waterside  ten  thousand  tons — about  twelve  days' 
supply. 

Before  the  recent  coal  strike,  during  which  large 
cargoes  were  imported  from  England — one  alone 
containing  8,525  tons,  the  largest  to  that  time  ever 
crossing  the  Atlantic — it  became  evident  that  this 
provision  was  inadequate  to  give  the  desired  degree 
of  insurance  to  the  New  York  service.  Consequently 
in  1903  a  large  tract  of  land  known  as  Shadyside,  on 
the  Xew  Jersey  shore  of  the  Hudson  River  opposite 
the  Grant  Monument  on  Riverside  Drive,  Manhat- 
tan, was  purchased  and  thoroughly  equipped  with 
coal  handling  machinery. 

Coal  may  be  deli\ered  on  the  property'  bj'  either 


44  T  h  e   N  czv    York 

boat  or  rail  and  automatically  placed  in  the  storage 
piles.  In  the  stations  buckets  on  endless  chains  lift 
the  coal  to  the  bunkers  on  the  upper  floors  and  it  is 
delivered  at  the  doors  of  the  boilers  by  gravity; 
in  this  storage  yard  it  is  lifted  on  enormous  trusses 
and  by  gravity  takes  place  on  the  pile,  where  it  re- 
mains until  needed  for  use. 

The  arc  over  each  of  the  hard  coal  piles  consists 
of  two  bow  string  trusses  having  a  span  of  340  feet 
and  a  height  of  97  feet  to  the  liinge.  Coal  is  car- 
ried from  the  receiving  hopper  up  on  the  side  of  the 
truss  by  a  flight  cmneyer,  and  by  adjustable  open- 
ings in  the  track  falls  on  the  pile  at  any  point  de- 
sired between  base  and  apex.  Soft  coal  is  stored 
by  means  of  a  bridge  conveyer  having  a  span  of  220 
feet  and  a  run  of  340  feet;  it  is  taken  from  the  boats 
by  clam-shell  buckets  suspended  and  operated  from 
a  receiving  tower  at  the  bulkhead  end  of  the  bridge. 
The  receiving  hopper  for  hard  coal  is  filled  directly 
from  cars  standing  on  the  tracks  over  it,  or  if  de- 
livered by  boat,  by  a  rubber  belt  conveyer,  upon 
which  crane  buckets  discharge  their  contents.  As 
all  deliveries  from  this  yard  must  be  made  by  water, 
this  belt  also  serves  to  reload  the  hard  coal  from  the 
receiving  hopper  at  the  piles  to  the  point  at  which 
it  is  discharged  into  the  vessels  at  the  biilkhead. 

As  in  storing,  so  in  removing,  the  coal  is  handled 
entirel}'  bj^  mechanical  means.  The  soft  coal  is 
picked  up  with  clam-shell  buckets,  each  holding 
about  one  and  one-half  tons,  and  deposited  in  the 
conveying  barge  anchored  at  the  bulkhead.  The 
hard  coal  is  removed  from  the  piles  by  a  sweep  sup- 
ported on  circular  tracks  passing  under  each  pile. 
The  sweep  is  moved  to  the  inside  base  of  the  pile 
and,  held  there,  the  coal  falls  upon  a  scrape  con- 
veyer which  carries  it  to  a  receiving  hopper  located 
at  the  hinge  of  the  sweep,  from  which,  by  means  of 
a  screw  conveyer  standing  at  an  angle,  it  is  de- 
posited   upon    tlie    belt    conveyer     which,     as     stated 


Electrical    Handbook  4§ 

above,  runs  to  the  bulkhead,  several  hundred  feet 
away. 

The  present  provision  is  for  two  piles  of  hard  and 
one  of  soft  coal.  Each  hard  coal  pile  contains  60,000 
tons  without  trimming;  with  trimming,  the  joint 
capacity  of  both  piles  may  be  increased  to  160,000 
tons.  The  soft  coal  pile  stores  between  30,000  and 
50,000  tons. 

Soft  coal,  it  is  expected,  will  remain  on  storage 
only  for  short  periods,  but  the  hard  coal  may  remain 
indefinitely,  its  use  being  dependent  upon  the  condi- 
tions of  the  market.  At  some  seasons  it  may  seem 
desirable  to  purchase  and  store  in  quantities,  at 
others  to  cease  storage  and  even  to  draw  upon  the 
reserves,  though  there  be  at  the  time  no  interruption 
in  the  market  supply. 

ELECTRIC  AUTOMOBILING  AND  TRUCKING 
A  very  interesting  feature  of  recent  and  consider- 
able growth  is  the  Company's  electric  automobile 
service  now  including  about  twenty-five  vehicles  for 
Superintendents,  delivery  and  trucking.  The  service 
is  much  faster  than  horses,  perhaps  almost  twice  as 
fast,  and  the  cost  is  no  greater,  if  as  great.  With 
the  Superintendents'  conveyances  a  higher  degree  of 
oversight  is  given  important  work  than  would  be 
otherwise  possible;  the  delivery  wagons  enable  the 
distribution  of  supplies  much  more  satisfactorily, 
and  in  a  manner  which  presents  a  more  pleasing  ap- 
pearance to  the  public;  the  electric  trucks  are  capable 
of  rapidly  transporting  loads  as  heavy  as  five  tons. 
In  addition  to  these  advantages  there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  these  vehicles  possess  considerable  adver- 
tising value,  and  that  they  have  materially  aided 
in  increasing  the  use  of  business  automobiles  pro- 
pelled electrically  on  the  streets  of  New  York  city. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  useful  applica- 
tions of  electric  power,  in  connection  with  the  trans- 
portation of  heavy  loads,  is  the  design  of  a  five  ton 
truck    by    the    New    York    Edison    Company,    upon 


46  T  h  c    N  c  zv    York 

which  is  iiiiiuiitcd  an  iloctric  windlass  for  drawing 
cables  into  tho  ducts  of  the  subwa}',  an  electric  pump 
for  removing  water  from  the  manholes,  and  a  switch- 
board which  enables  the  battery  to  be  charged  while 
the  truck  is  standing  on  the  street.  In  addition  to 
providing  means  for  quickly  drawing  cables  into  the 
subways,  this  truck  transports  them  on  the  reels 
from  the  storeyard  to  the  ])oint  of  use.  The  Com- 
pany maintains  a  thor((ugh]y  equipped  garage  for 
this  service,  including  storage  ror)m  and  repair  shops. 

THE  -METER 

All  of  the  direct  current  now  supplied  by  the 
Company  is  registered  on  Thomson  recording  watt 
meters.  ?^Iore  than  42,000  of  these  meters  are  in 
constant  use.  The  alternating  current  in  the  outly- 
ing districts  is  supplied  through  mechanical  watt 
hour  meters  of  the  induction  type,  of  which  there  are 
about  2,000  in  use. 

All  meters  are  tested  before  leaving  the  meter 
room  and  again  within  a  month  after  their  installa- 
tion. After  this  each  meter  is  tested  annuallj-, 
though  to  insure  a  high  state  of  accuracy  meters  of 
the  larger  sizes  are  tested  every  two  or  three  months. 
Tests  are  also  made,  at  the  expense  of  the  Company, 
upon  the  complaint  of  a  customer  that  his  bills  ap- 
pear excessive.  The  number  of  meter  tests  made  in 
1903  was  46,924,  somewhat  in  excess  of  the  total 
number  of  meters  installed. 

The  Meter  Department  is  administered  from  the 
upper  portion  of  the  former  39th  street  station,  where 
elaborate  facilities  have  been  provided  both  for  direct 
and  alternating  current  work.  The  alternating  cur- 
rent is  supplied  at  60  and  25  cycles,  this  variety  being 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  the  Company,  and  the 
direct  current  connections  are  capable  of  supplying 
as  many  as  1,000  amjieres  at  the  test  board  at  either 
120  or  240  volts.  .\  small  storage  battery  of  140 
cells,  70  to  a  side,  is  also  connected  with  the  testing 
board;  end  cells,  with  suitable  connections,  give  any 


Electrical    Handbook  4/ 

required  voltage.  The  equipment  of  the  Depart- 
ment also  includes  a  bank  of  1,100  lamps  giving  the 
required  current  flow  for  meters  of  the  various  sizes. 
The  Department's  equipment  also  includes  ap- 
paratus for  testing  the  various  parts  of  meters,  in- 
cluding the  armatures,  magnets  and  jewels.  A  com- 
plete repair  shop  is  maintained  and  spare  parts  for 
each  type  of  meter  are  kept  in  stock  for  immediate 
use,  thus  it  is  possible  to  make  hurried  repairs,  with- 
out returning  the  meters  to  the  factor^-. 

RATING  OF  METERS 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  these  meters  are  able  to 
carrj^  for  considerable  time  an  amount  of  current 
largely  in  excess  of  their  rated  capacity.,  and  that 
seldom,  if  ever,  all  of  the  lamps  or  the  power  con- 
stituting the  installation  are  utilized,  the  practice 
is  to  install  meters  of  a  size  somewhat  less  than 
the  capacity  of  the  installation.  Thus  in  residences 
the  meter  capacity-  is  but  50  per  cent,  of  the  installa- 
tion, and  in  stores  J^  per  cent.  For  motors  the 
capacity  is  based  upon  an  allowance  at  two  amperes 
at  240  volts  per  horse-power  for  commercial  motors 
and  three  amperes  for  elevators.  Exceptions  are 
made  as  where  the  entire  installation  is  devoted  to 
sign  and  show  window  lighting,  and  where  it  is 
known  that  the  size  of  the  motor  is  not  greater  than 
the  average  load  on  it.  But  such  departures  from 
the  general  rule  are  made  only  after  careful  investi- 
gation at  the  premises  bj^  the  Company's  local 
inspector. 

PRICES 

Current  is  sold  to  the  public  under  several  sched- 
ules, the  one  selected  in  each  instance  being  that 
which  offers  to  the  customer  the  best  arrangeinent 
that  can  be  made.  The  price  varies  only  between 
given  classes.  One  cannot  obtain  a  price  better  than 
another's  in  the  class,  and  to  get  in  any  class  it  is 
only  necessary  to  comply  with  the  conditions  that 
control  it.  which  are  alike  to  all. 


48 


The    N  c  zv    York 


!d3 


To  the  smaller  customers  current  is  sold  under  a 
retail  contract  in  which  the  maximum  price  is  15 
cents  a  kilowatt  hour,  falling  as  the  average  use  of 
the  installation  increases;  thus  it  is  10  cents  for  the 
third  and  fourtli  hours  of  average  use;  714  cents  for 
the  fifth  and  sixth  hours,  and  5  cents  a  kilowatt  hour 
for  all  use  in  excess  of  six  hours  daily. 

The  larger  installations  are  supplied  under  whole- 
sale contracts,  which,  through  the  medium  of  guar- 
antees, insuring  a  relatively  large  consumption  of 
current,  offer  marked  reductions  from  the  prices  of 
the  retail  schedule.     Thus,  on  what  is  known  as  the 

Wholesale  "  \"  form,  a 
customer  guarantees  a 
monthly  use  of  current 
amounting  to  2,000  kilo- 
watt hours,  and  a  daily 
average  use  of  the  in- 
stallation of  two  hours,  for  ten  months  of  the  year, 
and  the  maximum  price  is  reduced  to  10  cents  a 
kilowatt  hour.  For  all  current  in  excess  of  four 
hours  daily  average  use  of  the  installation,  the  price 
is  reduced  to  5  cents  a  kilowatt  hour. 

The  second  wholesale  form  of  contract,  known 
as  "B,''  provides  for  a  guarantee  of  2.500  kilowatt 
hours  monthly  consumption  and  two  hours  daily 
average  use  of  the  installation,  for  ten  months  of  the 
year;  the  maximum  price  also  is  10  cents  a  kilowatt 
hour,  with  discounts  of  one  cent,  two  cents  and  three 
cents  respectively  for  an  average  daily  use  of  four, 
six  and  eight  hours;  of  one-half  cent  a  kilowatt  hour 
where  the  monthly  bill  reaches  $500,  and  of  one  cent 
where  the  amount  is  $t.ooo.  Thus,  under  this  form 
of  contract  a  customer  having  a  monthly  bill  of 
$1,000  and  using  his  installation  an  average  of  eight 
hours  daily  can  purchase  current  at  a  price  as  low 
as  six  cents  a  kilowatt  hour. 

The  large  buildings  erected  on  Manhattan  Island 
during  recent  years  have  brought  even  greater  prob- 
lems to  the  electrical  companies,  and  for  these  there 


Electrical    Handbook  4p 

is  a  still  different  schedule  which  possesses  some  ad- 
vantages over  the  others.  Under  it  the  customer 
guarantees  that  the  monthly  use  of  current  shall 
amount  to  not  less  than  10,000  kilowatt  hours  dur- 
ing twelve  months  of  the  year,  and  places  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  company,  without  rental  charge,  such 
reasonable  space  as  it  may  require  for  rotary  ap- 
paratus permitting  it  to  use,  if  desired,  high  tension 
feeder  service.  In  view  of  these  considerations  the 
maximum  price  is  reduced  to  5  cents  a  kilowatt 
hour.  Where  the  monthly  use  of  current  exceeds 
15,000  kilowatt  hours,  for  the  excess  alone  the 
price  is  reduced  to  4^  cents;  if  it  exceeds  25,000  kilo- 
watt hours,  for  the  excess  above  25,000  the  price  is 
4  cents;  if  in  excess  of  35,000  kilowatt  hours,  the 
price  for  this  excess  is  3I/2  cents;  if  in  excess  of 
50,000  kilowatt  hotirs,  the  price  for  the  excess  be- 
yond that  point  is  3  cents  a  kilowatt  hour.  The 
price  remains  unchanged  in  each  of  the  several  steps 
of  this  schedule  and  does  not  include  the  supply  o^ 
incandescent  lamps  or  any  care  of  the  installation. 

Electric  current  is  supplied  for  power  purposes 
at  10  cents  a  horse-power  hour,  equalling  thirteen 
and  a  fraction  cents  a  kilowatt  hour.  On  monthly 
bills  for  100  horse-power  hours  there  is  a  discount 
of  20  per  cent.;  200  horse-power  hours,  25  per  cent.; 
400,  30  per  cent.;  600,  35  per  cent.;  800,  40  per  cent.; 
1,000,  45  per  cent.;  1,500,  50  per  cent.;  5,000,  55  per 
cent.,  and  10,000,  60  per  cent.  Thus  consuming  the 
largest  amount,  current  may  be  purchased  for  4  cents 
a  horse-power  hour. 

There  is  also  a  special  storage  battery  and  auto- 
mobile schedule  for  the  larger  users  of  that  class 
of  service — the  smaller  users  taking  current  at  the 
power  rates.  Guaranteeing  a  monthly  use  of  not 
less  than  $50,  and  agreeing  that  current  shall  not  be 
taken  during  the  maximum  hours  of  the  district  in 
which  the  service  is  given  during  the  months  of 
November,  December,  January  and  February,  the 
price  is  6  cents  a  kilowatt  hour,  with  a  discount  of 


§0  The    N  czv    York 

Yz  cent  fur  3,000  kihnvatt  hours,  oi  i  cent  for  5,000, 
15/2  cents  for  8,000,  2  cents  for  10,000,  2^  cents  for 
25,000,  and  of  3  cents  for  50,000  kilowatt  hours  of 
monthly  use.  Thus  a  very  large  customer  in  this 
class  of  service,  evading  the  maximum  hours  of  the 
district,  can  obtain  current  as  low  as  3  cents  a  kilo- 
watt  hour. 

Service  is  rendered  to  private  plants  onlj'  under  a 
special  contract  which  stipulates  a  monthly  use  of 
current  amounting  to  $1.00  annually  at  the  rates  of 
the  contract  where  a  reserve  is  provided  for  the  en- 
tire installation,  and  to  $1.50  where  but  a  portion  of 
the  installation  is  provided  with  reserve.  If  the  con- 
sumer will  agree  to  use  no  current  during  the  maxi- 
mum hours  of  the  district,  these  guarantees  are  re- 
duced one-half,  namely,  to  50  and  75  cents  respect- 
ively. Question  frequenth'  arises  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  thus  rendering  assistance  to  private  plants,  but 
experience  has  shown  that  this  is  one  of  the  ways 
to  secure  them  for  full  central  station  service.  As 
a  medium  to  that  end  it  has  been  productive  of  good 
results. 

No  distinction  is  made  between  arc  and  incan- 
descent lighting,  both  being  supplied  where  desired 
at  the  same  rates  and  through  the  same  meter.  It  is 
also  the  practice  to  supply  heating  and  cooking  ap- 
paratus under  the  power  or  any  of  the  other  sched- 
ules; if  supplied  at  the  retail  rates,  this  apparatus 
is  not  included  in  the  rating  of  the  installation.  Ven- 
tilating motors  used  during  the  summer  months  are 
also  excluded  from  the  rating;  thus  in  increasing  the 
apparent  average  use  and  reducing  the  cost  of  cur- 
rent is  their  use  encouraged. 

I XXAN DESCENT  LAMPS 

Experience  has  shown  that  where  customers  who 
are  not  informed  technically  purchase  incandescent 
lamps  upon  the  open  market,  their  standards  of 
lighting  diminish  materially,  causing  not  only  dis- 
satisfaction  to   the   immediate   user  but   a  very  poor 


Electrical    Handbook 


51 


opinion  generally  on  the  part  of  prospective  users. 
For  this  reason  the  Company  requires  that  all  retail 
customers  shall  permit  it  to  supply  incandescent 
lamps,  including  them  within  the  price  for  current. 
The  wholesale  customers  in  the  private  plant  class, 
however,  have  the  option  of  purchasing  incandescent 
lamps  either  from  the  Company  or  elsewhere,  and 
when  this  option  is  exercised  a  special  reduction  of 
one  cent  a  kilc>watt  hour  is  made. 


HISTORICAL 
The  Edison  system  of  to-day,  as  has  been  briefly 
outlined,  has   grown   from   the   original   Pearl   Street 


d— 


"^^ 


.Showing  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  map  the  Edison  system  in  1883. 
The  mains  outHned  in  the  upper  portion  were  laid  at  a  later  date 

Station,  containing  when  started  six  steam  units,  the 
historical  "Jumbos,"  and  supplying  current  to  an 
underground   system   of   less   than     fifteen     miles    in 


^2  The    New    York 

mains  and  feeders,  occupying  a  territory  of  which 
Wall  street  was  the  southern  boundary  and  Nassau 
street  the  northern — about  a  mile  square. 

The  Pearl  street  property — 255-257 — -was  pur- 
chgised  in  May,  1881.  Work  of  laying  street  mains 
and  wiring  prospective  customers'  premises  began 
in  July  the  same  year.  The  boilers  were  started  on 
June  29,  1882;  the  first  engine,  installed  for  operating 
a  coal  conveyor,  was  placed  in  service  on  June  30th; 
the  first  dynamo  was  started  on  July  5th  and  first 
generated  current  on  July  8th,  supplying  1,000  lamps 
arranged  in  a  bank  on  one  of  the  upper  floors;  the 
underground  system  was  connected  and  tested  dur- 
ing July,  and  on  Setpember  4,  1882,  at  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  the  station  was  placed  in  permanent  op- 
eration. It  ran  continuously  with  but  one  break  of 
about  three  hours,  in  1883,  until  the  fire  of  January  2, 
1890.  Through  the  assistance  of  the  Liberty  street 
annex,  placed  in  commission  in  September,  1887,  the 
interruption  of  the  service  after  the  fire  did  not  last 
more  than  half  a  day;  thus,  since  3  o'clock  of  the 
afternoon  of  September  4,  1882,  until  the  present 
time,  the  Edison  service  on  Manhattan  Island  has 
been  fully  interrupted  only  twice,  and  the  aggregate 
of  these  interruptions  has  been  less  than  twelve 
hours. 

This  first  district  station  and  distributing  sj-stem 
were  developed  personally  by  Mr.  Edison.  For 
many  months,  day  and  night,  the  work  had  his  con- 
stant and  direct  supervision.  That  which  is  to-day 
best  in  the  generation  and  distribution  of  electric 
current  is  proceeding  on  lines  which  he  discovered 
and  followed  then;  the  direct-connected  unit,  the 
underground  system,  the  feeder  system,  safety  fuses, 
the  meter,  in  addition  to  the  high  resistance  incan- 
descent lamp,  the  foundation  of  all.  There  have 
been  many  changes  in  detail,  but  basically  the  best 
that  remains  to-day  found  a  place  in  the  original 
work  of  Mr.  Edison,  more  than  twentj-  years  ago. 


Electrical    Handbook  55 

IN  CONCLUSION 

This  statement  might  be  properly  concluded  with 
reference  to  the  1883  annual  report  of  the  company, 
which  contains  a  resume  of  the  work  of  the  preced- 
ing fifteen  months.  Speaking  of  the  results  to  that 
time  accomplished,  it  says  they  consisted  of  "a  great 
achievement  scientifically  and  commercially,  which 
it  is  gratifying  to  recall."  Its  readers  are  reminded 
that  in  1875  many  of  the  scientific  men  of  Great 
Britain  before  a  select  committee  of  the  British 
House  of  Commons  declared  vmanimously  as  their 
best  belief  the  impossibility  of  the  subdivision  of 
electric  light;  and  states  that  at  the  very  time  Mr. 
Edison  had  already  accomplished  this  subdivision 
in  a  manner  which  he  believed  capable  of  commercial 
application. 

The  report  continues  that  the  task  which  Mr. 
Edison  had  set  for  himself  was  to  devise  and  set 
in  successful  operation  commercially  a  system  by 
which  electric  current  could  be  generated  and  dis- 
tributed from  a  central  place  to  all  buildings  in  a 
town  or  other  common  area,  turned  on  or  off  by 
the  householder  at  will  without  danger  or  incon- 
venience, to  furnish  a  light  healthful  and  agreeable 
to  the  eye,  in  quantities  suited  to  domestic  habits  and 
pursuits,  for  a  price  which  the  consumer  would  be 
able  and  willing  to  pa}%  and  which  would  return  a 
satisfactory  profit  to  the  investor. 

The  aims  so  clearly  set  forth  in  this  report,  now 
added — may  be  looked  upon  largely,  if  not  entirely, 
in  the  light  of  accomplishment. 


NOTE 

Electric  Cab  Service  in  New  York 

It  has  been  said,  and  in  the  past,  rightly,  that  of 
all  of  the  cities  of  the  world,  the  cab  service  of  New 
York  is  the  most  expensive  and  at  the  same  time 
the  most  unsatisfactorj'.     True  at  least  in  part  in  the 


54  The    N  eiv    York 

past,  but  not  so  to-day.  For  a  change  has  been  ac- 
complished by  the  New  York  Transportation  Com- 
pany. Starting  seven  years  ago  with  twelve  electric 
vehicles,  it  is  now  operating  on  Manhattan  Island 
a  service  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-five  vehicles  of 
various  types,  including  victorias,  surries,  hansoms, 
runabouts  and  tonneaus,  many  of  exclusive  design. 
These  vehicles  aggregate  a  dailj'  travel  of  five  thou- 
sand five  hundred  miles — two  million  miles  annually. 
Curiously  in  this  distance  they  consume  almost  ex- 
actly two  million  kilowatt  hours,  an  average  of  one 
kilowatt  hour  a  mile  of  vehicle  travel. 

The  Transportation  Company  occupies  three  sta- 
tions. Eighth  avenue  and  Forty-ninth  street,  230-250 
East  Sixty-sixth  street,  and  the  corner  of  Vesey 
street  and  West  Broadway.  The  latter  station  is 
for  the  use  of  vehicles  going  downtown  to  the  Bridge 
and  Wall  street  district.  The  Sixty-sixth  street  sta- 
tion contains  30,000,  square  feet  of  floor  space,  the 
Eighth  avenue  128.000  square  feet.  Exclusive  cab 
privileges  are  held  at  the  Thirty-fourth  street  sta- 
tion of  the  Long  Fsland  Railroad,  at  Sherry's,  at 
the  Cafe  des  Beaux  Arts,  and,  when  opened,  at  the 
new  Hotel  Astor  on  Long  Acre  Square. 

So  many  people  desire  to  see  New  York  city  in  a 
very  short  period  of  time,  that  the  Transportation 
Company  has  organized  a  number  of  sight-seeing 
tours,  one  of  which  includes  a  nine-mile  ride  through 
Central  Park  and  the  Riverside  Drive,  bordering  the 
Hudson  river — said  to  be  the  most  beautiful  residen- 
tial avenue  in  the  world — past  the  Soldiers'  Monu- 
ment to  the  Tomb  of  General  Grant,  which  overlooks 
the  Hudson  river  at  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-third 
street.  Electric  bus  service  is  also  maintained  on 
Fifth  avenue  from  the  Arch  (if  Washington  Square 
to  Seventy-second  street. 

The  schedule  of  prices  is  published,  and  to  ob- 
viate the  possibility  of  overcharge,  the  drivers  give 
a  duplex  form  of  receipt  for  all  payments  which  en- 
ables the   patrons  of  the   company  to  make   anj-  de- 


Electrical    Handbook  J5 

sired  complaints,  and  the  company  to  locate  the 
offender.  Thus  it  wonld  seem  that  in  this  modern 
service  the  public  is  fully  protected  against  unjust 
charges.  Cabs  cannot  be  hailed  from  the  street, 
but  must  be  engaged  at  one  of  the  stations  of  the 
company. 

The  vehicles  manoeuver  in  and  out  through  the 
traffic  of  the  streets  much  easier  and  faster  than 
would  be  practicable  were  the}'  horse-drawn.  It 
is  estimated  that  the  speed  with  which  electric  trans- 
portation is  accomplished  is  about  twice  as  fast  as 
with  horses.  The  vehicles  are  entirely  odorless,  easy 
riding,  and  the  weather,  whether  extremely  hot  or 
extremely  cold,  makes  no  difference — there  is  no 
horse  to  be  injured  by  sunstroke  or  by  falling  on  slip- 
pery pavements. 

With  the  growth  of  this  method  of  transportation 
New  York  is  no  longer  compelled  to  take  a  second 
place  amongst  the  cities  of  the  world  in  the  facilities 
offered  in  private  conveyances  to  its  own  citizens 
and  to  visitors  from  abroad. 


WESTERN  UNION  TELEGRAPH 
COMPANY 


Main  UuililiiiK  W Ott-rii  I'liion  Telegraph  Company,  ig?  liroadway 


W^ ester n  Union  Telegraph  Company 
— Its  Origin,  Growth  and  Devel- 
opment 

THE  history  of  The  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  goes  back  to  the  year  185 1.  when 
articles  of  association  of  The  New  York  and 
Mississippi  Valley  Printing  Telegraph  Com- 
pany— the  original  name  of  the  Company — were  filed 
at  Albany.  During  the  years  that  had  interevened  be- 
tween the  construction  of  the  first  telegraph  line  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington  in  1844,  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  company,  more  than  fifty  different  telegraph 
companies  had  sprung  up  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States,  largely  as  the  result  of  quarrels  and  differences 
among  those  interested  in  the  original  ]\Iorse  patents. 
Most  of  these  companies  were  licensed  by  the  owners  of 
the  patents ;  a  few  used  the  devices  of  Alexander  Bain, 
and  others  the  printing  telegraph  system  invented  by 
Royal  E.  House.  Lines  to  operate  the  House  instru- 
ment had  already  been  built  between  New  York  City 
and  Boston,  and  between  New  York  City  and  Philadel- 
phia, and  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  extending  this  system 
w^estward  that  a  company  was  organized  in  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  that  afterwards  became  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company. 

The  absurdity  of  continuing  so  large  a  number  of 
independent  organizations  under  the  adverse  conditions 
then  existing  soon  became  apparent,  and  as  a  natural 
consequence  local  consolidations  began  to  be  effected. 
One  by  one,  by  lease,  by  purchase,  or  by  exchange  of 
stock,  the  various  companies  in  the  west  came  into,  or 
were  absorbed  by  the  new  company,  which,  by  an  act 
of   the    New    York    Legislature    in    1856    had    its    name 

59 


6o  T  h  e   N  eiv    Y  0  r  k 

changed  from  The  New  York  and  Mississippi  Valley 
Printing  Telegraph  Company  to  the  shorter  and  more 
popular  title  of  The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, indicating  the  union  of  the  western  lines  into  one 
compact  system. 

The  next  important  step  was  taken  in  1861,  when  a 
line  was  constructed  across  the  western  plains  to  con- 
nect the  eastern  system  of  lines  with  those  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  Meanwhile,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
as  the  result  of  consolidations,  a  new  era  of  prosperity 
dawned  upon  the  telegraph,  and  with  the  growth  in 
population  the  business  of  The  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Companj'  rapidly  increased.  This  increase  made 
an  outlet  to  the  eastern  seaboard  cities  extremely  desir- 
able, to  secure  which  the  Company  acquired  such  lines 
as  gave  it  an  entrance  into  both  New  York  City 
and  Philadelphia  with  full  control  of  the  intervening 
territory. 

From  the  date  of  its  organization  at  Rochester  to 
the  removal  of  its  offices  to  New  York  City  in  1866,  the 
Western  Union  Company  had  virtually  absorbed  all 
rival   and   opposing  companies. 

The  commanding  position  reached  by  The  Western 
Union  Company  in  1866,  with  its  growing  ramifications 
covered  by  75,000  miles  of  wire,  has  been  maintained 
until  now — the  largest  telegraph  company  in  world — it 
embraces  in  its  great  system  1.089,212  miles  of  wire, 
with  196,517  miles  of  poles  and  cables ;  it  operates  23.120 
separate  offices,  two  Atlantic  cables,  two  Cuban  cables 
with  connections  throughout  the  West  Indies,  and  it 
has  close  direct  connections  with  all  parts  of  South 
America,  as  well  as  exclusive  connection  with  the  Great 
North  Western  Telegraph   Company  of  Canada. 

The  number  of  messages  transmitted  by  the  Com- 
pany during  the  year  1903  was  69,790,866,  excluding 
those  sent  over  leased  wires  or  under  railroad  con- 
tracts, the  equivalent  of  which  would  probably  number 
10,000,000  additional  messages. 

Such  an  immense  volume  of  business  can  only  be 
handled  successfully  by  the  use  of  machinery   and   ap- 


Electrical    Handbook  6i 

pliances  of  the  most  modern  and  efficient  character. 
Dynamo  machines  and  storage  batteries  have,  therefore, 
to  a  very  large  extent,  been  substituted  for  chemical 
batteries  in  recent  years,  there  being  now  nearly  700  of 
the  former,  and  upwards  of  18,000  of  the  latter  dis- 
tributed amongst  the  principal  offices,  which  formerly 
depended  upon  the  gravity  battery  to  furnish  the  nec- 
essary currents.  Copper  wire  of  great  conductivity  and 
endurance  has  been,  and  is  still  fast  .replacing  the  more 
perishable  iron  wire.  Large  and  substantial  pole  lines 
have  taken  the  place  of  the  slender  and  imperfectly 
insulated  pole  lines  formerly  used,  whilst  the  instru- 
ments and  apparatus  employed  in  the  transmission  and 
reception  of  business  are  all  of  the  latest  and  most 
approved  type. 

THE  MAIN   OFFICE 

The  general  office  of  The  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  at  195  Broadway,  is,  with  one  exception,  the 
largest  telegraph  office  in  the  world.  The  building  in 
which  the  office  is  situated  was  designed  and  built  to 
meet  the  peculiar  requirements  of  the  telegraph  service. 
It  is  thoroughly  fireproof  in  construction,  every  precau- 
tion having  been  taken  in  fitting  it  for  use  to  prevent  the 
possibility  of  a  recurrence  of  such  a  disaster  as  de- 
stroyed the  old  office  on  July  18,  1890. 

Four  thousand  and  two  hundred  wires  enter  the 
building  from  underground  conduits.  These  wires  are 
led  in  cables  of  one  hundred  conductors  each  through 
iron  ducts  to  cable  heads  in  the  terminal  room  of  the 
cellar.  Each  cable  head  is  equipped  with  an  iron  frame 
containing  fifty-two  insulating  binding  posts  on  oppo- 
site sides,  and  a  runway  frame  for  the  distribution  of 
wires  from  one  cable  to  another,  the  arrangement  being 
such  as  to  greatly  facilitate  the  rapid  changes  desirable 
in  cases  of  failure  of  any  conductor  in  use. 

Attached  to  one  portion  of  the  frame  work  are  slate 
terminal  boards,  from  which  connections  are  made  to 
the  3,800  wires  distributed  throughout  the  operating 
rooms,   all   wires  being  equipped   with    fuses   so   as   to 


62 


The    New    York 


Electrical    Handbook  dj 

protect  the  instruments  from  electric  light  or  other  stray 
currents  that  might  endanger  their  safety. 

In  the  operating  rooms  on  the  seventh  and  eighth 
floors  are  five  main-line  switchboards  of  the  latest  double 
springjack  pattern,  separated  as  widely  as  possible  from 
each  other,  and  placed  as  far  as  practicable  from  ele- 
vator shafts  and  stairways,  an  arrangement  which  not 
only  affords  greater  security  from  fire,  but  permits  each 
section  of  the  switch  to  be  located  in  that  particular 
division  where  its  wires  are  operated.  In  addition  to 
these  main-line  switches,  which  have  a  total  capacity  for 
1 .350  wires,  there  are  a  number  of  others  used  for  special 
purposes,  including  the  loop  switch,  which  is  a  collec- 
tion of  676  spring] acks  with  1,300  cords  and  wedges. 
Every  quadruplex  and  duplex  loop  entering  the  office  is 
led  directly  to  this  board,  the  arrangement  being  such 
that  any  loop  may  be  connected  to  any  multiplex  set, 
and  by  means  of  "flying  cords,"  of  which  there  are 
175.  any  wire  from  any  of  the  other  switches  may  be 
brought  to  this  switch  and  thence  to  any  part  of  the 
operating  rooms. 

The  seventh  floor  contains  the  Wheatstone  auto- 
matic and  Buckingham  printing  appliances ;  the  Gold 
and  Stock  Quotation  and  Commercial  News  depart- 
ments, and   the   Filing  and    Service   departments. 

About  fifteen  of  the  new  electrically  operated  key- 
board perforating  machines  are  required  for  preparing 
messages  for  transmission  by  the  Wheatstone  instru- 
ments, and  nearly  as  many  typewriters  copy  the  received 
slip  for  delivery.  Three  Wheatstone  duplex  circuits 
are  in  operation ;  two  to  Chicago  and  one  to  St.  Louis, 
at  speeds  of  from  130  to  175  words  per  minute,  with  one 
repeater  in  circuit  at  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg,  respectively. 

Two  automatic  printing  telegraph  circuits,  each  hav- 
ing a  capacity  of  200  messages  per  hour,  are  in  opera- 
tion, one  between  New  York  and  Chicago,  and  the 
other  between  New  York  and  Buffalo.  Messages  by 
this  system  are  transmitted  in  opposite  directions  at  the 
rate  of  one  hundred  words  per  minute. 

For    the    Gold    and    Stock    and    Commercial    News 


64  The    Ne IV    York 

service,  five  keyboard  machines  run  by  small  electric 
motors  are  in  use  for  sending  out  quotations  to  as 
many  classes  of  tickers,  namely,  produce,  cotton,  petro- 
leum, coffee  and  financial  news.  The  switchboards  de- 
voted to  this  service  are  of  special  form  and  construction. 

A  large  space  on  this  floor  is  taken  up  by  the  City 
and  Marine  departments,  into  which  all  the  wires  from 
city  and  suburban  points  are  led  through  an  eight-sec- 
tion springjack  switchboard  having  capacity  for  i,oco 
wires. 

On  the  eighth  floor  are  the  wires  to  the  Southern, 
Eastern  and  Western  points.  Here  are  to  be  found 
most  of  the  simplex,  duplex  and  quadruplex  circuits ; 
the  automatic  and  quadruplex  repeater  sets ;  the  time 
repeater  apparatus ;  the  leased  wire  annunciator  system ; 
the  loop  switch,  and  other  accessories  by  means  of  which 
business  may  be  promptly  transmitted  and  delivered. 

On  the  gallery,  in  the  centre  of  this  floor,  the  entire 
business  of  the  two  floors  is  handled  by  a  corps  of  assort- 
ers  and  distributing  clerks.  The  pneumatic  tubes  are 
on  this  gallery  in  connection  with  the  receiving  and 
delivery  department  on  the  basement  floor,  and  with  the 
several  offices  and  floors  of  the  building,  also  with  down- 
town exchanges  and  with  the  uptown  offices.  There  are 
also  two  carrying  belts  to  facilitate  the  passage  of  busi- 
ness to  and  from  the  penumatic  tubes  and  carriers. 
Messages  between  the  seventh  and  eighth  floors,  and 
from  any  section  of  one  floor  to  other  sections  of  either 
floor  are  handled  by  a  cable  carrier  system.  This  sys- 
tem consists  essentially  of  a  number  of  double-track 
miniature  cable  railways  radiating  from  the  central 
station  on  this  gallery.  The  carriers  are  so  constructed 
that  they  drop  the  driving  cable  and  are  automatically 
"sidetracked"  at  the  particular  stations  on  the  floor  for 
which  they  arc  intended,  as  well  as  pick  up  the  busi- 
ness at  any  particular  station  for  which  the}'  have  been 
adjusted. 

The  instruments  and  apparatus  for  handling  and 
forwarding  messages  represent  all  of  the  latest  improved 
methods    of    telegraphic    transmission,    the    most    note- 


Electrical    Handbook 


65 


worthy  examples  of  which,  perhaps,  are  the  alternating 
current  quadruplex  system,  and  the  high  speed  duplex 
printing  telegraph  S3'stem  now  in  practical  operation 
over  several  of  the  company's  lines. 


Ticker  System  ;    Transmitter 


Altogether  there  are  in  the  operating  department 
350  simplex  sets,  92  quadruplex  sets,  y2  duplex  sets,  51 
repeaters  of  various  kinds,  as  well  as  637  simplex,  duplex 
and  quadruplex  loops. 

In    a    room    in    the    cellar    of   the    huilding   are   the 


66  The   New    York 

dynamos  which  supply  the  currents  for  telegraph  work. 
There  are  three  groups  of  dynamos  supplying  main- 
line current,  each  consisting  of  five  Edison  40-ampere 
machines  connected  in  series.  The  fir.st  and  second  of 
each  series  have  a  potential  difference  of  70  volts  each, 
and  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth,  60  volts  each.  Leads 
from  each  machine  carry  currents  of  70.  140,  200,  260. 
and  320  volts  to  resistance  lamps  in  the  operating  depart- 
ment. One  group  of  dynamos  furnishes  positive  and 
one  negative  currents.  The  third  is  a  spare  or  relief 
group.  There  are  also  two  80-ampere  machines  supply- 
ing currents  at  30  volts  for  loops,  two  300-ampere  ma- 
chines furnishing  currents  at  7  volts  for  locals,  and  two 
40-ampere  machines  supplying  currents  at  45  volts  for 
city  and  short  line  service.  Of  these  two  lower  voltage 
machines  only  one  of  each  pair  is  in  use  at  any  one 
time,  the  other  being  held  in  reserve.  There  are  in  this 
room  in  addition  thirty-five  small  dynamos  for  use  as 
intermediate  main-line  batteries,  which  deliver  currents 
at  from  50  to  125  volts. 

The  building  is  lighted  throughout  by  electricity,  the 
current  for  which  is  obtained  from  the  mains  of  the 
New  York  Edison  Company.  Steam  for  driving  the 
various  engines  is  supplied  from  the  underground  street 
mains  of  a  central  steam  service ;  but  for  security 
against  accidental  interruption  to  this  supply,  there  are 
in  the  building  six  boilers  always  kept  ready  to  start  up 
at  a  moment's  notice.  Electric  light  sources  of  supply 
that  can  be  tapped  and  utilized  in  cases  of  emergency 
also  afford  additional  security. 

The  following  statistics  with  regard  to  the  length 
of  cables  and  conductors  in  use  by  the  Western  Union 
in  New  York  City  may  be  given : 

Kind  of  Total  Length  of  Total  Length  of 

Cable.  Cal)les  in  F"eet.  Conductors  in  Feet. 

Aerial     1,337.160  21,941,874 

Underground    .  .      314.931  12,766.986 

Submarine 164,378  2,684.048 

The  volume  of  business  handled  in  the  main  office 
varies   slightly  at   different   seasons,  but   the   daily  ave- 


Electrical    Handbook  6/ 

rage  for  the  year  is  over  100,000  messages,  exclusive  of 
press  reports. 

THE  NEW  YORK  CENTRAL  CABLE  OFFICE 

Although  a  branch  office  in  character,  the  New  York 
Central  Cable  Office  is  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
important  telegraphic  centres  in  this  country,  for  here 
is  concentrated  the  great  bulk  of  the  telegraph  business 
of  the  financial  district  of  the  metropolis  of  America. 

This  office  occupies  the  ground  and  basement  floors 
of  the  south  end  of  the  magnificent  new  Stock  Exchange 
Building,  the  area  included  being  40  by  160  feet,  extend- 
ing through  from  Broad  to  New  streets.  The  operating 
room,  which  is  a  marvel  of  completeness  in  modern 
telegraphic  equipment,  is  on  the  ground  floor  at  the 
Broad  Street  end,  while  at  the  rear  is  found  the  office 
of  the  American  District  Telegraph  Company  and  of 
the  Gold  and  Stock  Telegraph  Company. 

In  order  to  handle  this  telegraphic  traffic,  eighty-five 
aerial  lines  and  two  submarine  cables  centre  here,  while 
seventj^-four  operators  are  employed  besides  a  clerical 
force  of  fift}--three. 

The  longest  circuits  maintained  continuously  any- 
where in  the  world  are  operated  from  this  office.  One 
of  these  is  a  duplex  to  San  Francisco,  upwards  of  3,000 
miles  in  length,  over  which  the  traffic  to  the  Pacific 
coast  passes.  There  are  four  duplexes  leading  to  Gal- 
veston, Texas,  2,200  miles  away,  where  connection  is 
made  with  the  ^Mexican  and  South  American  cable  sys- 
tems. Two  direct  duplexes  extend  to  Havana,  1,800 
miles  distant,  there  connecting  with  the  Cuba  Submarine 
Cable  Company's  system,  and  the  land  lines  of  the 
Insular  Government.  F"ive  duplexes  reach  out  to  North 
Sydney,  C.  B.,  and  are  employed  to  carry  the  traffic 
of  the  European  cables  landing  in  its  vicinity.  A  duplex 
to  Duxbury,  Mass.,  connects  with  the  cable  landing  at 
that  place.  Every  important  centre  in  the  United  States 
is  in  direct  communication  with  this  office.  To  Chicago, 
two  duplexes  are  operated ;  two  to  New  Orleans ;  three 
to  Boston ;  several  connect  with  Philadelphia,  and  others 


68 


The   N  czv    York 


Electrical    Handbook  6p 

bring  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Baltimore,  Toronto,  Mon- 
treal and  other  places  into  close  touch  with  the  financial 
pulse  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

The  office  is  connected  with  the  floor  of  the  Stock 
Exchange  in  the  same  building,  by  an  extensive  pneu- 
matic tube  service.  The  Stock  Exchange  floor  is  divided 
into  eight  sections,  and  sixteen  tubes  are  in  constant  use 
to  carry  from  and  to  each  of  these  sections  the  telegraph 
business  of  the  exchange.  An  average  of  but  nineteen 
seconds  is  required  in  the  transfer  of  such  messages. 
Similar  tube  connection  is  also  maintained  with  the 
operating  room  at  the  main  office.  No.  195  Broadway. 

The  American  District  Telegraph  Company,  which 
has  the  largest  plant  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  has  in 
operation  twenty-six  call  circuits  with  a  total  number  of 
1903  call  boxes,  all  within  a  radius  of  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  this  particular  office.  From  1,000  to  1,500 
calls  are  answered  daily,  the  number  being  regulated  by 
the  activity  of  the  stock  market.  The  number  of  boys 
employed  will  average  one  hundred,  although  frequently 
two  hundred  are  brought  into  requisition. 

The  Gold  and  Stock  Telegraph  Company,  incor- 
porated in  1867,  now  divides  the  entire  Stock  Exchange 
ticker  reporting  business  with  the  New  York  Quotation 
Company.  By  special  agreement  with  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange,  both  companies  receive  their  quota- 
tions at  the  same  moment,  by  the  same  wire. 

The  New  York  Quotation  Company  furnishes  the 
quotations  by  ticker  to  members  of  the  exchange  only, 
and  the  Gold  and  Stock  Company  by  ticker  to  all  other 
business  houses  whose  applications  may  be  approved  by 
the  Stock  Exchange.  Its  ticker  circuits  embrace  New 
York  City,  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  Newark,  Elizabeth, 
Patterson  and  other  nearby  points,  about  670  stock 
tickers  being  in  operation.  This  Company  also  receives 
and  issue  by  ticker,  quotations  and  market  reports  from 
the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  the  New  York  Produce 
Exchange,  and  the  Cotton  Exchange,  as  well  as  general 
markets  and  prices  of  petroleum  and  coflfee.  On  these 
systems   it  has  over  three   hundred  tickers. 


70 


The    New    York 


Electrical    Handbook  /i 

The  systems  are  operated  by  a  large  storage  battery 
plant  and  central  transmitting  machinery.  It  has  over 
ijCOO  miles  of  cable  conductors  in  use  in  the  city,  as 
well  as  some  outlying  air  lines  wires  on  Western  Union 
pole  lines.  A  force  of  about  sixty  men  is  employed  in 
attending  to  the  service  and  in  keeping  the  cables  and 
wires  in  good  order. 

There  are  two  submarine  cable  circuits  in  operation 
lietween  this  office  and  Canso,  Nova  Scotia,  from  which 
latter  point  direct  communication  with  the  cable  station 
in  Penzance,  England,  is  maintained.  Both  circuits  are 
worked  duplex  by  the  automatic  system  at  rates  of 
speed  varying  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-two  words  per 
minute. 

The  terminal  room  in  the  basement,  which  is  the 
second  largest  in  the  Western  Union  service,  has  accom- 
modation for  four  thousand  wires.  Thirty-one  hundred 
conductor  cables  enter  this  room,  which  is  the  general 
distributing  point  to  all  the  lower  part  of  New  York 
City. 

A  single  Crocker- Wheeler  motor-dynamo  supplies  the 
current  for  all  short  wires  to  brokers  and  other  outside 
offices,  as  well  as  to  all  the  local  sounders  in  the 
operating  room. 

The  following  tables  show  the  organization  and 
present  officers  of  The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany : 

Robert  C.  Clowry,  President  and  General  Manager. 
George  J.  Gould,  J.  B.  Van  Every,  Thomas  F.   Clark, 

Vice-Presidents. 
A.  R.  Brewer,  Secretary. 
M.  T.  Wilbur,  Treasurer. 
J.  B.  Van  Every,  Auditor. 
John   F.   Dillon,   General   Counsel. 
G.  H.  Fearons,  General  Attorney. 
Rush  Taggart,  H.  D.  Estabfook.  Solicitors. 


y2  The    Nc IV    York 


BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS 

Thos.  T.  Eckert,  Chairman. 

Robert  C.  Clowry.  Henry  M.  Flagler, 

John  T.   Terry,  John   Jacob   Astor, 

Russell    Sage,  Oliver   Ames, 

Samuel   Sloan,  C.  Sidney  Shepard, 

George  J.  Gould,  John  B.  Van  Every, 

Edwin  Gould,  James   Stillman, 

Louis    Fitzgerald,  Thomas  F.  Clark, 

Jacob  H.   Schiff,  W.  Lanman  Bull, 

James   H.    Hyde,  ^Morris  K.  Jesup, 

Frank   Jay   Gould,  E.  H.  Harriman, 

Charles    Lanier,  Charles  Lockhart, 

J.    Pierpont   ^ilorgan,  Samuel  Spencer, 

Chauncey    M.    Depew,  Howard  Gould, 
John  J.   Mitchell. 

EXECLTIVE    COMMITTEE 

Thos.  T.  Eckert,  Chairman. 
Robert   C.   Clowry,  Edwin  Gould, 

John  T.  Terry,  Louis  Fitzgerald, 

Russell  Sage,  Jacob  H.  Schiff, 

Samuel  Sloan,  James  H.  Hyde, 

George  J.  Gould,  Frank  J.  Gould. 


J.  C.  Barclay,  Assistant  General  ^^lanager.  New  York. 

C.  H.  Bristol,  General  Superintendent  Construction. 
New  York. 

William  Holmes,  Superintendent  of  Tariff  and  Check 
Bureaus,   New  York. 

G.  W.  E.  Atkins,  Superintendent  of  Contract  and  Free 
Service  Departments,  New  York. 

E.  C.  Cockey,  Superintendent  of  Supplies,  New  York. 

H.  E.  Roberts,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Supplies. 
New  York. 

W.  J.  Dealy,  Superintendent  of  Commercial  News  De- 
partment, New  York. 

S.   C.   Mason,   Storekeeper,  Chicago. 


Electrical    Handbook 


73 


Eastern    Division    General    Superintendent — B.    Brooks, 

New  York. 
Eastern   Division   District   Superintendents — 
I.     E.  M.  Mulford,  New  York. 
E.  P.  Griffith.  New  York. 
E.  B.  Saylor,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
J.   P.   Altberger,   Philadelphia,  Pa. 

C.  F.  Ames,  Boston,  Mass. 

D.  C.  Dawson,  St.  John,  N.  B. 

Western  Division  General  Superintendent — Theodore  P. 

Cook,  Chicago,  111. 
Western  Division  District  Superintendents — 
I.     F.  H.  Tubbs,  Chicago,  111. 
G.  J.  Frankel,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
C.  B.  Horton,  Omaha,  Neb. 
C.  Corbett,  Cleveland,  O. 
John  F.  Wallick,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
I.  N.  Miller,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
James  Swan,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Southern    Division    General    Superintendent — J.    Levin, 

Atlanta,  Ga. 
Southern  Division  District  Superintendents — 

1.  F.  E.  Clary,  Richmond,  Va. 

2.  J.  M.  Stephens,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

3.  B.  F.  Dillon,  Jacksonville,  Fla. 

4.  J.  R.  Terhune,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Pacific  Division  General  Superintendent — Frank  Jaynes, 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Pacific  Division  District  Superintendents — 

1.  F.  H.  Lamb,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

2.  T.  W.  Goulding,  Seattle,  Wash. 


European   Agency — D.    Le    Rougetel,    General    Superin- 
tendent, London. 
Havana  Agency — Eugenio  Fortun  y  Varona,  Manager. 


NEW  rORK   CENTRAL  &  HUD 
SON  RIVER  RAILROAD 
COMPANY 


Description  of  the  System  Adopted  by 
the  New  York  Central  ^  Hudson 
River  R.  R.  Company  for  Operat- 
ing its  "Passenger  Traffic  by  Elec- 
tricity in  New  York  City  and 
Vicinity 

FOR  the  past  six  years  the  New  York  Central 
and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company  has  given 
serious  consideration  to  the  question  of  using 
electricity  as  a  motive  power  for  handling  its 
passenger  traffic  from  the  Harlem  River  to  the  Grand 
Central  Station  in  the  City  of  New  York.  The  neces- 
sity for  this  investigation  arose  from  the  serious  incon- 
venience of  the  traveling  public  due  to  the  use  of  steam 
locomotives  in  the  four-track  Park  Avenue  Tunnel, 
which  extends  from  56th  Street  to  96th  Street,  a  distance 
of  about  two  miles.  In  addition  to  relieving  the  discom- 
fort to  passengers,  the  use  of  electricity  was  deemed 
advisable  for  minimizing  the  annoyance  from  noise, 
gas,  steam  and  cinders  to  abutting  property  owners 
along  Park  Avenue. 

Furthermore,  the  City  of  New  York  desired  the  low- 
ering of  the  tracks  of  the  Grand  Central  yard  and  ter- 
minal from  56th  Street  south  to  42nd  Street,  so  as  to 
permit  the  restoration  of  the  cross  streets  from  45th 
Street  to  56th  Street,  inclusive,  which  heretofore  have 
been  cut  in  two  by  the  approaches  to  the  terminal. 
This  depression  of  the  yard  and  terminus,  with  the 
consequent  roofing  in  of  the  tracks  by  streets  and 
viaducts  was  not  feasible  with  steam  locomotive  op- 
eration, and  hence  arose  an  additional  necessit}-  for 
using  electricity  as  a  motive  power. 

77 


rs 


The    N  czv    York 


tt     rt 


i 


Electrical    Handbook  79 

The  natural  conservatism  of  a  large  corporation  like 
the  N.  Y.  C.  &  H.  R.  R.  R.  led  to  a  more  than  ordinarily 
careful  and  deliberate  consideration  of  such  a  revolu- 
tionary step  as  the  change  of  motive  power,  from  the 
long  and  well-tried  steam  locomotive  to  a  new  force 
which  had  not  yet  been  employed  for  the  peculiar  char- 
acter of  service  existing  on  one  of  the  principal  trunk 
lines  of  the  country.  The  hauling  of  trains  nearly  one- 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  length  and  weighing  as  high  as  871 
tons,  at  speeds  exceeding  sixty  miles  per  hour,  with  regu- 
larity and  safety,  had  not  been  attempted  by  electricity. 
The  handling  of  from  500  to  700  trains  a  day  in  the 
Grand  Central  yard,  with  its  maze  of  tracks  and 
switches,  presented  a  problem  the  solution  of  which  has 
not  before  been  attempted  with  electricity  as  a  motive 
powder.  Moreover,  the  difficulties  presented  to  the 
N.  Y.  C.  &  H.  R.  R.  R.  were  not  like  those  which 
arise  in  the  majoritj'^  of  electric  railroad  enterprises, 
where  the  change  of  power  is  not  attended  by  the 
embarrassment,  delays  and  dangers  incident  to  the 
successful  maintenance  of  an  existing  enormous 
traffic  in  conjunction  with  radical  changes  in  roadbed 
and  structures. 

After  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  entire  sub- 
ject the  Company  finally  decided,  in  1902.  to  change 
its  motive  power  as  well  as  make  other  radical  im- 
provements, and  in  the  following  year  the  State  and 
municipal  authorities  sanctioned  the  carrying  out  of 
these  alterations. 

In  addition  to  the  change  from  steam  to  electric 
power,  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Company  to  radical- 
ly improve  and  enlarge  the  Grand  Central  Station, 
increasing  the  size  and  depressing  the  yard  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  permit  the  restoration  of  cross  streets 
from  45th  Street  to  56th  Street,  inclusive:  build  a 
new  underground  suburban  terminal  connecting 
with  the  Rapid  Transit  Subway  beneath  the  Grand 
Central  Station;  four-track  both  the  Hudson  and 
Harlem  Divisions  within  the  electrical  zone;  elimi- 
nate all  grade  street  and  track  crossings  within  the 


So  T  h  e    N  eiv    Y  0  r  k 

same  zone;  straighten  the  alignment  in  the  Borough 
of  the  Bronx  Iiy  wliat  is  designated  as  the  Mar- 
ble Hill  Cut-off;  and  make  important  station  improve- 
ments at  places  like  Yonkers,  Ossining,  Mount  Vernon 
and  White  Plains. 

Electrical  engineers  will,  of  course,  be  most  interested 
in  the  electrification  of  traffic,  and  so  far  as  possible  this 
description  is  confined  to  that  part  of  the  work. 

The  Act  of  the  Legislature  under  which  these  im- 
provements are  authorized  calls  for  the  completion  of 
the  change  of  motive  power  from  the  Harlem  River  to 
the  Grand  Central  Station  within  five  years  from  the 
date  upon  which  the  law  went  into  effect,  July  i,  1903. 
The  Railroad  Company  decided  that  for  many  reasons  it 
would  not  be  advisable  to  change  from  electric  to  steam 
locomotives  at  the  Harlem  River,  which  is  about  six 
miles  from  the  Grand  Central  Station,  but  to  extend  the 
electrical  zone  to  a  point  on  the  Hudson  Division  be- 
tween Ossining  and  Croton,  a  distance  of  about  thirty- 
four  miles,  and  to  a  point  near  White  Plains  on  the 
Harlem  Division,  a  distance  of  about  twenty-four  miles 
from  the  Grand  Central  Station,  involving  the  electrifi- 
cation of  nearly  300  miles  of  single  track  and  carrying 
the  most  important  passenger  and  mail  traffic  in  the 
country. 

The  Electric  Traction  Commission,  under  whose 
charge  the  change  of  motive  power  was  placed,  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  electrical  zone  should  be 
extended  to  points  considerably  beyond  the  limit  fixed 
by  the  Act  of  the  Legislature. 

The  passenger  traffic  was  found  to  divide  itself  natur- 
ally into  two  categories,  nameh',  suburban  service  and 
through  train  service. 

In  considering  the  suburl)an  service,  which  now  ex- 
tends to  Croton  and  White  Plains,  the  Electric  Traction 
Commissifui  felt  that  through  the  use  of  smaller 
trains  and  l)y  a  more  frequent  and  faster  service, 
with  freedom  fmni  snmke  and  cinders,  a  large  in- 
crease in  traffic  would  follow.  The  members  of  the 
Commission    felt    that    these    advantages,    with    the 


Electrical    Handbook  8i 

resultant  increase  of  population  within  the  suburban 
zone,  could  only  be  obtained  by  uniformity  of 
motive  power  within  its  limits.  The  topographical 
restrictions  preclude  adequate  terminals  at  any 
point  near  the  Harlem  River,  or  for  that  matter  at  anj' 
point  south  of  the  present  limits  of  the  suburban  traffic 
at  Croton  and  White  Plains.  Furthermore,  the  vacant 
territory  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  Citj'  of  New 
York  is  growing  so  fast  that  they  believed  it  unwise  and 
impolitic  to  establish  new  steam  engine  terminals  within 
the  city  limits.  These  considerations,  among  others,  led 
the  Company  to  adopt  the  plan  of  an  electrically  operated 
zone  south  of  Croton  and  White  Plains. 

After  deciding  upon  the  limits  of  the  electrically 
operated  service,  the  next  step  was  the  selection  of  the 
character  of  current  to  be  used.  The  Commission,  for 
several  reasons,  unanimousl)^  adopted  direct  current. 
Among  these  were  that  direct  current  would  facilitate 
future  interchange  of  equipment  with  other  rapid  transit 
lines  in  New  York  City  and  its  vicinity  already  simi- 
larly equipped.  A  number  of  legal  and  physical  condi- 
tions absolutely  prohibited  the  use  of  overhead  conduc- 
tors for  alternating  current  on  the  Park  Avenue  viaduct 
and  in  the  Park  Avenue  tunnel.  Alternating  current 
apparatus  had  not  been  developed  to  the  point  where  it 
was  considered  practicable  for  such  an  important  instal- 
lation which  must  be  operated  successfully  on  a  fixed 
date.  Therefore,  disregarding  all  debatable  questions 
of  relative  costs  of  operation  and  apparatus,  there  re- 
mained strong  reasons  of  policy  and  certain  technical 
advantages  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  direct  current 
sj'stem  within  the  proposed  electrical  zone.  North  of 
Croton  and  White  Plains  there  still  remains  a  full  oppor- 
tunity for  the  future  adoption  of  the  alternating  current 
S3'stem  when  its  success  has  been  demonstrated  for  long- 
distance service. 

As  a  result  of  the  Commission's  conclusions  the  Rail- 
road Company  has  placed  orders  for  the  larger  part  of 
the  new  equipment,  including  electric  locomotives,  power 
stations,    turbo-generators,    surface    condensers,   boilers, 


82 


The    New    York 


Electrical    Handbook  8^ 

feed-pumps,  exciters,  feed  water  heaters,  and  other  aux- 
iliary power  station  apparatus.  The  actual  placing  of 
these  orders  marks  a  profoundly  important  epoch  in  the 
application  of  electricity  to  the  hauling  of  trains  on  the 
main  trunk  line  of  one  of  the  leading  railroads  of  the 
world.  For  the  first  time  electric  motors  will  compete  in 
performance  with  steam  in  hauling  heavy  express  trains 
of  500  tons  and  over  at  speeds  exceeding  sixty  miles  per 
hour.  The  change  is  expected  to  show  marked  econo- 
mies in  the  electrified  part  of  the  railroad  as  a  whole, 
and  it  will  mean  a  great  increase  in  the  suburban  traffic 
to  Croton  and  White  Plains,  due  to  the  purification  of 
the  tunnel  and  the  running  of  multiple  unit  trains  every 
few  minutes. 

To  ensure  the  utmost  reliability  of  the  service,  two 
central  power  stations  are  to  be  erected,  one  at  Port 
Morris  and  the  other  in  the  vicinity  of  Yonkers,  each  of 
an  ultimate  capacity  of  30,000  kilowatts,  and  so  connected 
that  either  is  able  in  case  of  accident  to  carry  the  entire 
load  of  a  train  service  much  greater  than  the  present 
steam  schedule. 

After  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  relative 
merits  of  reciprocating  engine  driven  alternators  and 
turbo-generators,  the  Commission  has  recommended  the 
use  of  the  latter,  and  the  contract  has  been  exe- 
cuted for  eight  7,500  H.P.  turbo-generators  with  an 
ultimate  installation  of  twelve.  The  turbines  are 
the  Curtis  four-stage  vertical  type  running  at  500 
revolutions.  The  generators  are  twenty-five  cycle, 
three-phase,  alternating  current,  wound  for  11,000 
volts.  The  decision  of  the  Commission  in  adopt- 
ing turbo-generators  is  based  upon  a  considerable 
saving  in  first  cost,  space  occupied  and  guaranteed 
sustained  steam  consumption.  The  turbo-generators, 
while  normally  rated  at  7,500  H.P.,  can  readily  de- 
velop over  10,000  H.P. 

The  condensing  apparatus  will  be  external  to 
the  turbines.  The  condensers  are  of  the  counter 
current  surface  type  and  each  is  directly  connected 
to  its   turbine   base   and   contains    17,000   square   feet 


84  T  he    New    Y  or  k 

of  tube  surface.  The  CDiidensing  apparatus  is  guaran- 
teed tu  maintain  a  vacuum  of  twenty-eight  inches,  with 
coohng  water  at  a  temperature  of  70°  Fahrenheit.  The 
auxiliary  condensing  machinery  is  composed  of  inde- 
pendent units.  Circulating  water  pumps  are  of  the  cen- 
trifugal type,  directly  driven  by  horizontal  reciprocating 
engines.  The  dry  vacuum  pumps  are  of  the  rotative  fly- 
wheel type,  with  the  air  and  steam  cylinders  in  tandem 
erected  on  a  common  base.  The  hot  well  pumps  are  of 
the  centrifugal  type  and  are  driven  by  direct  connected 
electric  motors.  As  an  evidence  of  the  high  efficiency 
e.xpected  from  the  condenser  system,  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  manufacturer  has  guaranteed  that  the  tempera- 
ture of  condensed  steam  measured  in  the  condenser  hot 
well  will  be  within  one  degree  Fahrenheit  of  that  corre- 
sponding to  the  pressure  measured  in  the  condenser. 
All  parts  of  the  machinery  have  been  designed  to  operate 
smoothly  and  quietly  under  all  loads  up  to  fifty  per  cent, 
above  the  normal  rated  capacity  of  the  turbines. 

The  exciter  equipment  in  each  power  station  will 
consist  of  two  turbine  driven  steam  exciters  and  one 
induction  motor  exciter.  Each  unit  is  of  sufficient  ca- 
pacity to  operate  the  entire  station.  One  spare  exciter 
unit  will  be  used  for  operating  the  electric  traveling 
crane  and  station  lighting.  In  addition  to  these  there 
will  be  a  storage  battery  exciter  located  on  the  top  floor 
of  each  switch  house,  having  a  capacity  of  1,200  amperes 
for  three  hours. 

The  turbine  room  of  each  power  station  will  be 
equipped  with  a  fifty-ton  electric  traveling  crane  having 
an  auxiliary  ten-ton  hoist.  The  cranes  are  of  the 
usual  power  station  type. 

The  boiler  houses  will  be  of  the  one-floor  type,  and 
will  contain  eventually  forty  -  eight  625  horse  -  power 
water  tube  boilers  with  internal  superheaters.  The  boiler 
headers  are  of  forged  steel  and  the  tubes  are  staggered 
in  serpentine  rows.  There  are  twenty-one  sections  and 
fourteen  tubes  m  each  section.  The  total  heating  sur- 
face of  each  boiler  is  6,250  square  feet,  and  the  grate 
surface  is  eighty-eight  square  feet.     The  boilers  are  de- 


Electrical    Handbook  8§ 

signed  for  a  normal  working  pressure  of  185  pounds, 
and  the  steam  will  be  superheated  to  200°  Fahrenheit 
over  and  above  the  temperature  due  to  the  steam  pres- 
sure. The  superheaters  in  each  boiler  contain  1,230 
square  feet  and  are  made  up  of  168  two-inch  '"U"  shaped 
tubes  each  13'  5"  in  length.  The  manufacturer  has 
guaranteed  that  the  economy  of  each  boiler  and 
superheater  at  the  normal  rated  capacity,  under  the 
usual  working  conditions  shall  be  not  less  than  the 
equivalent  evaporation  of  ten  and  three-fourth 
pounds  of  water  from  and  at  212°  Fahrenheit  per 
one  pound  drj-,  run-of-mine,  bituminous  coal,  con- 
taining  approximately    14,000    British   thermal   units. 

Each  section  of  the  power  station  containing  four 
boilers  is  equipped  with  one  boiler  feed  pump.  The 
boiler  feed  pumps  are  of  the  duplex,  outside  packed 
piston  type.  The  pumps  are  designed  for  hot  water 
and  each  pump  has  a  capacity  sufficient  to  feed  eight 
boilers  under  full   load   conditions. 

The  adopted  feed  water  heaters  are  of  the  closed 
type,  this  decision  having  been  reached  after  a  very 
careful  consideration  of  the  quality  of  the  feed  water, 
and  due  consideration  given  to  the  fact  that  the  water 
in  the  hot  well  from  the  surface  condenser  plant  would 
be  absolutely  free  from  oil.  The  heaters  are  of  the 
copper  corrugated  tube,  Wainwright,  counter  cur- 
rent design. 

There  will  be  two  chimneys  for  each  power  station, 
constructed  of  radial  brick,  carried  directly  over  the 
boilers  on  steel  piers.  The  decision  in  favor  of  radial 
brick  stacks  was  reached  after  a  consideration  of  the 
relative  merits  of  radial  brick  stacks  and  steel  stacks, 
and  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  radial  brick  stacks  on 
account  of  their  permanency  and  relatively  lower  cost 
as  compared  with  lined,  self-sustained,  steel  plate  stacks. 

The  high-tension  switching  equipment  of  each  power 
station  is  to  be  located  in  a  separate  switch  house,  the 
high  tension  leads  from  the  generators  running  direct 
without  break  to  the  oil  switches.  In  the  gallerj-  of 
each    power    station    is    located    the    operating    or   pilot 


86  The    X  cw    York 

switchboard    and    there    is    in    addition    an    emergency 
switchboard  in  each  switch  house. 

The  system  of  electrical  distribution  will  be  ii,ooo 
volt,  three-phase,  alternating  current,  generated  direct 
and  fed  to  eight  substations,  where  the  primary  current 
will  be  transformed  into  6oo-volt  continuous  current 
and  fed  directly  into  the  working  conductors.  The 
working  conductors  will  consist  of  the  usual  third  rail, 
except  at  crossings,  and  in  complicated  yard  work, 
where  an  overhead  rail  will  be  installed,  the  motors 
automatically  taking  current  either  from  the  third  rail 
or  the  overhead  conductor.  The  third  rail  will  be  pro- 
vided with  a  protecting  shield  against  accidental  contact 
and  from  sleet.  The  third  rail  will  be  augmented  by 
an  auxiliary  feeder  running  throughout  the  entire  system 
to  ensure  the  continuitj^  of  service  should  certain  sec- 
tions be  cut  out  through  accidental  or  other  causes. 

The  substations  will  be  supplied  with  double  sets  of 
conductors  and  the  power  houses  will  be  connected 
together,  so  that  all  substations  can  be  operated  from 
either  of  the  main  generating  stations 

For  the  system  as  now  decided  upon,  there  will  be 
the  eight  substations,  each  equipped  with  rotary  con- 
verters varying  in  capacity  from  i,ooo  to  1,500  kilowatts 
direct  current  output.  The  advisability  of  installing 
electric  storage  batteries  to  "float  on  the  line"  is  under 
serious  consideration.  The  substations  are  laid  out 
with  bus  bars  and  high  tension  connections  in  the  base- 
ment ;  the  first  floor  contains  the  transformers,  rotaries 
and  oil  switches.  If  storage  batteries  are  installed,  they 
will  be  located  over  a  waterproof  floor  above  the  rotaries. 

The  distributing  system  will  be  partly  aerial  line 
construction,  the  conductors  being  carried  on  steel  poles, 
and  partly  in  subways,  the  duct  system  having  manholes 
either  in  duplicate  or  constructed  with  isolated  com- 
partments  and  separate  manhole   covers. 

All  suburban  trains  will  be  operated  on  the  multiple 
unit  system,  in  which  trains  are  made  up  of  a  number 
of  motor  cars,  under  a  common  control,  on  the  general 


Electrical    Handbook  8y 

plan  now  adopted  by  the  Elevated  and  Underground 
Railways. 

The  hauling  of  heavy  through  trains  presented  for 
consideration  problems  of  more  than  ordinary  interest. 
The  trains  vary  in  weight  from  200  tons  to  over  900  tons, 
and  are  operated  at  speeds  of  from  six  miles  per  hour  in 
the  yards  to  seventy-five  miles  per  hour  on  the  main 
line.  This  necessitates  at  present  a  great  variety,  both 
in  style  and  capacity,  of  steam  locomotives.  The  adop- 
tion of  electricity  afforded  a  solution  denied  to  steam  in 
operating  this  class  of  traffic,  because  that  with  elec- 
tricity it  is  possible  to  adopt,  for  all  classes  of  service 
and  for  all  speeds  required,  a  single  type  and  size  of 
electric  locomotives,  capable  of  being  governed  and 
grouped  to  meet  all  exigencies  of  service.  From  a 
variety  of  plans  submitted,  the  decision  was  finally  made 
in  favor  of  an  electric  locomotive  having  a  new  type 
of  gearless,  direct  current,  bi-polar  motor,  and  a  con- 
tract has  been  awarded  for  furnishing  an  equip- 
ment of  thirty  such  electric  locomotives,  with  the 
option  of  increasing  the  number  to  fifty.  The  total 
weight  of  the  locomotive  is  eighty-five  tons,  of 
which  sixty-seven  tons  is  borne  on  the  four  pairs 
of  drivers.  Compared  watli  existing  steam  prac- 
tice it  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  the  heaviest  At- 
lantic type  locomotive  of  this  company  weighs  forty- 
seven  tons  on  the  two  pairs  of  drivers,  and  the  total 
weight,  including  the  tender,  is  150  tons;  thus  for  every 
pound  of  effective  drawbar  pull,  the  steam  locomotive 
weighs  twelve  and  one-fifth  pounds,  as  compared  with 
five  and  one-fifth  pounds  for  the  electric  locomotive. 
This  gives  in  a  single  motor  unit,  over  thirty-five  per 
cent,  greater  weight  available  for  traction  than  the  larg- 
est steam  locomotive  now  in  use  in  this  service,  with 
forty-three  per  cent,  less  dead  weight  and  with  twenty- 
nine  per  cent,  less  weight  on  each  axle  and  an  entire 
absence  of  counter  balancing  of  drivers  and  twist  from 
the  reciprocal  action  so  destructive  to  the  track  and 
roadbed. 

The   locomotive   is   the   result   of  several   months" 


88  The    Nczv    York 

cooperative  designing  between  the  General  Electric 
Company  and  the  American  Locomotive  Company, 
the  latter  company  building  the  frames  and  the  run- 
ning gear.  These  electric  locomotives  represent  in 
a  marked  manner  the  latest  development  of  the  best 
experience  in  the  electrical  and  locomotive  fields, 
and  ensure  the  highest  attainment  of  the  art,  in  both 
electrical  and  mechanical  design. 

The  length  will  be  thirty-seven  feet  over  all.  The 
wheel  base  will  consist  of  four  pairs  of  motor  wheels  and 
two  pairs  of  pony  truck  wheels,  the  length  of  the  total 
wheel  base  being  twenty-seven  feet ;  and  of  the  rigid 
wheel  base,  consisting  of  the  four  pairs  of  motor  wheels, 
thirteen  feet.  The  diameter  of  the  driving  wheels  will 
be  forty-four  inches,  and  of  the  truck  wheels  thirty-si.K 
inches.  The  driving  axles  will  be  eight  and  one-half 
inches  in  diameter. 

The  frame  will  be  of  cast  steel,  the  side  and  end 
frames  being  bolted  together  at  machined  surfaces  and 
stiflfened  by  cast  steel  cross  transoms.  The  journal 
boxes  and  axles  will  be  designed  to  permit  sufficient 
lateral  play  to  enable  the  locomotive  to  pass  easil}' 
around  curves  of  230  feet  radius. 

The  superstructure  of  the  locomotive  is  to  be  of 
steeple  form,  so  designed  as  to  offer  the  least  practicable 
wind  resistance,  consistent  with  the  adequate  housing 
of  the  apparatus  and  its  convenient  operation.  The  cab 
is  designed  so  as  to  afford  a  better  view  of  the  track 
and  signals  than  is  now  possible  with  that  of  the  steam 
locomotive.  The  whole  of  the  superstructure  is  to  be 
of  sheet  steel  with  angle  iron  framing,  and  the  doors 
and  windows  of  the  cab  are  to  be  fireproof. 

The  driving  power  of  the  locomotive  will  be  fur- 
nished by  four  600-volt  direct  current  gearless  motors, 
each  of  550  horse-power.  This  will  make  the  normal 
rating  of  the  locomotive  2,200  horse-power,  with  a 
maximum  rating  of  about  2,8co  horse-power,  or  about 
fifty  per  cent,  greater  than  that  of  the  largest  steam  pas- 
senger locomotives  now  in  .service. 

The  armatures  will  be  mounted  directly  on  the  axles 


Electrical    Handbook  Sp 

and  will  be  centered  between  the  poles  by  the  journal 
boxes,  sliding  within  finished  ways  in  the  side  frames. 
The  armature  core  will  be  of  the  iron-clad  type,  the 
laminations  being  assembled  on  a  quill  which  will  be 
pressed  on  the  axle.  The  winding  will  be  of  the  series 
drum-barrel  type.  The  conductors  will  be  designed  so 
as  to  avoid  eddy  currents,  and  will  be  soldered  directly 
into  the  commutator   segments. 

The  commutator  will  be  supported  on  the  quill. 
The  commutator  segments  will  be  made  of  the  best 
hard-drawn  copper  and  will  have  the  ears  integral  with 
themselves.  The  brush-holders  will  be  made  of  cast 
bronze  and  mounted  on  insulated  supports  attached  to 
the  spring  saddle  over  the  journal,  maintaining  a  fixed 
position  of  the  brush-holders  in  relation  to  the  commu- 
tator. 

Unlike  the  ordinary  four-pole  motor  where  the  mag- 
netic circuit  is  made  through  a  separate  box  casting, 
the  magnetic  circuits  in  this  type  of  electric  locomotive 
are  completed  through  the  side  and  end  frames.  The 
pole  pieces  are  cast  in  the  end  frames,  and  there  are  also 
double  pole  pieces  between  the  armature  carried  by  bars 
which  act  as  part  of  the  magnetic  circuit. 

The  pole  pieces  will  be  shaped  so  that  the  armature 
is  free  to  move  between  them  with  ample  clearance  on 
the  sides.  As  the  poles  move  up  and  down  with  the  rid- 
ing of  the  frame  on  the  springs,  they  will  always  clear 
the  armature,  and  provision  is  made  so  that  the  arma- 
ture will  not  strike  the  pole  pieces  even  if  the  springs 
are  broken.  The  field  coils  will  be  wound  on  metal 
spools  bolted  to  the  pole  pieces,  and  will  consist  of  flat 
copper  ribbon. 

Proper  distribution  and  division  of  the  weight  among 
axles  will  be  accomplished  by  swinging  the  main  frames 
from  a  system  of  elliptical  springs  and  equalizing  levers 
of  forged  steel,  the  whole  being  so  arranged  as  to  cross 
equalize  the  load  and  furnish  three  points  of  support. 

The  locomotive  will  be  provided  with  all  the  usual 
accessories  of  a  steam  locomotive,  including  an  electric 
air   compressor   to   furnish   air   for   the   brakes;    it   will 


QO  T  h  e    N  ezv    Y  0  r  k 

have  whistles,  a  bell  and  an  electro-pneumatic  sanding 
device  and  electric  headlight  at  each  end.  The  interior 
of  the  cal)  will  also  be  heated  by  electric  coils. 

To  control  these  giant  locomotives,  and  to 
secure  command  of  the  amount  of  power  neces- 
sary for  all  train  operations,  the  Sprague-General 
Electric  system  of  multiple  unit  control  has  been 
adopted,  which  enables  two  or  more  locomo- 
tives to  be  grouped  together  and  operated  as 
a  single  unit  from  either  end.  By  this  means, 
if  necessary,  four  or  even  six  thousand  horse-power, 
is  available  for  a  single  train,  with  the  motive 
power  under  single,  and  consequently  safer,  control, 
out-ranking  any  possible  steam  locomotive  combina- 
tion. As  a  result  of  the  adoption  of  a  single  type  of 
locomotive,  in  place  of  a  dozen  or  more  types  and  sizes 
now  used,  and  the  method  of  multiple-unit  control, 
the  electric  locomotives  are  available  for  the  extremes  of 
varied  service.  They  can  be  used  equallj'  well  for 
switching,  for  the  lower  speed  trains,  or  in  combina- 
tion, for  the  very  heaviest  and  fastest  trains,  the  vari- 
ations of  speed  and  power  being  effected  by  changing 
the  relation  of  the  motors  from  four  in  series  to  four 
in  multiple,  with  intermediate  steps,  and  grouping  of 
the  locomotive  units  as  may  be  desired.  The  loco- 
motives are  double-headed,  controllable  at  either  end, 
and,  therefore,  no  turning  is  necessary.  The  first  of 
these  locomotives  is  to  be  delivered  within  a  few 
months,  and  comprehensive  high-speed  tests  will  be 
made. 

The  Railroad  Company  has  now  under  construction 
between  Schenectady  and  Hoflfmans  six  miles  of  ex- 
perimental track,  upon  which  all  electrical  road  equip- 
ment will  be  thoroughly  tested  before  being  delivered 
for  actual  service.  This  experimental  track  will  be 
built  as  a  model  of  the  construction  intended  in  the 
New  York  district,  and  all  appliances  which  are  intended 
for  use  in  the  permanent  system  will  first  have  a  thor- 
ough trial   at  this  experimental  station. 

Although  the  law  under  which  the  change  of  motive 


Electrical    Handbook  p  / 

power  is  to  be  carried  out  allows  five  years  for  its  com- 
pletion in  the  territory  designated  by  that  law,  it  is  the 
intention  of  the  Railroad  Company,  and  its  contracts  are 
so  drawn,  that  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it 
will  complete  the  change  from  steam  to  electric  opera- 
tion over  a  much  greater  territory  than  that  the  law 
requires  a  year  earlier,  and  it  is  intended  that  all  the 
other  terminal  changes  shall  be  completed  at  about  the 
same  time. 

The  Railroad  Company  not  only  anticipates  a  marked 
increase  in  the  comfort  and  safety  of  its  passengers  by 
the  new  operating  system,  but  also  a  decided  increase  in 
the  suburban  business,  and  wh?t  is  of  great  importance, 
the  adoption  of  electricity  makes  it  possible  to  reclaim 
all  the  overhead  space  in  the  territory  occupied  by  its 
terminal  yard  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  which,  instead  of 
being  left  open,  as  obligatory  with  steam  operation,  can 
be  utilized  for  superimposed  structures  by  the  company 
in  any  manner  best  suited  to  its  purposes.  A  much 
higher  speed  and  a  more  frequent  suburban  train  service 
will  characterize  the  suburban  service,  in  which  the  loco- 
motive is  entirely  eliminated,  and  its  places  taken  by 
motor  cars,  operated  in  train  combinations  by  the 
multiple  unit  system. 

The  substitution  of  electric  power  will  largely  reduce 
the  number  of  locomotive  movements  at  present  re- 
quired in  the  terminal  yards,  and  in  general  operation 
will  reduce  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  rolling  stock, 
wear  and  tear  of  the  tracks  and  eliminate  the  destructive 
effect  of  corrosive  gases  from  the  steam  locomotive. 

This  transformation  now  being  carried  into  execu- 
tion by  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company,  in- 
volving, as  it  does,  a  change  in  motive  power  in  addition 
to  terminal  changes  of  extensive  character;  and  main- 
taining meanwhile  the  operation  of  from  six  hundred  to 
seven  hundred  train  movements  per  day,  makes  it  the 
most  extensive  and  important  electric  traction  develop- 
ment now  in  process  of  execution. 

The  organization  under  which  the  electrification  is 
being  planned  and  executed  is  believed  to  have  special 


g2  The    New    York 

merit.  The  principle  and  general  policy  are  fixed  by  an 
Electrical  Commission  which  holds  weekly  meetings, 
and  discusses  and  takes  formal  action  upon  the  various 
problems  that  are  presented.  When  radical  differences 
of  opinion  develop  in  the  Commission  as  to  the  proper 
course  to  pursue,  outside  consulting  engineers  are  called 
in  for  consultation.  The  electrical  engineer  of  the  Com- 
pany acts  as  secretary  of  the  Commission  and  thus 
understands  the  reasons  that  guide  the  Commission 
in  its  action. 

The  detail  plans  and  specifications  are  prepared  by  a 
corps  of  electrical  and  mechanical  engineers  under  the 
Electrical  Engineer  and  have  the  final  approval  of  the 
Commission. 

The  Commission  consists  of  ]\Ir.  Wm.  J.  Wilgus, 
Chairman,  who  is  Fifth  Vice-President  of  the  Railroad 
Company  in  general  charge  of  all  construction ;  Mr. 
John  F.  Deems,  General  Superintendent  Motive  Power; 
Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold,  Consulting  Engineer  and  President 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers ;  Mr. 
Frank  J.  Sprague,  Consulting  Engineer  and  Past  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
and  Mr.  George  Gibbs,  Consulting  Engineer,  who  also 
acts  in  a  similar  capacity  for  the  Rapid  Transit  Subway. 
Mr.  Edwin  B.  Katte  is  the  Electrical  Engineer  of  the 
Company. 


THE    TELEPHONE   SYSTEM   OF 
NEW    YORK    CITY 


The  Telephone  Systeiii  of  New  York 
City 

ALTHOUGH  scarce  thirty  years  have  passed  since 
Professor  Bell  worked  out  the  first  practical  ap- 
^  plication  of  the  transmission  of  speech,  the  use  of 
the  telephone  to-day  in  the  United  States  is  so 
universal  that  it  is  recognized  as  being  a  factor  of  the 
highest  importance  in  the  business  and  social  develop- 
ment of  the  country. 

In  1878,  the  first  telephone  exchange  to  be  built  in 
the  United  States  was  constructed  in  New  Haven. 
When  it  was  demonstrated  by  practical  operation  that 
telephony  was  a  success,  the  American  public,  ever  eager 
to  adopt  a  useful  idea,  saw  the  marvelous  utility  of 
this  invention,  and  it  was  not  many  years  before  there 
was  a   substantial   demand   for  telephone   service. 

The  problem  of  serving  a  few  people  in  a  small 
town  was  soon  solved,  but  to  render  an  efficient  serv- 
ice to  a  large  community,  to  establish  an  intercommuni- 
cating system  with  thousands  of  stations,  to  bring  the 
service  to  the  high  point  of  speed  and  efficiency  de- 
manded by  the  nervous  activity  of  the  large  cities,  has 
only  been  accomplished  by  the  expenditure  of  a  vast 
amount  of  money  in  experimental  work,  and  by  bringing 
to  bear  on  the  problem  the  best  minds  and  the  highest 
trained  skill  available. 

In  New  York,  the  completion  of  a  great  telephone 
system  demanded  by  the  dense  population  within  a  ra- 
dius of  fifty  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  metropolis,  is 
apparently  only  a  matter  of  orderly  growth,  from  year 
to  year. 

The  telephone  problem  of  New  York  is  an  extremely 
difficult  one.  Within  a  fifty-mile  radius  of  the  City  Hall, 
there  are  200  cities,  towns  and  villages,  varying  in  popu- 

95 


p6  T  h  c    N  czu    York 

lation  from  Xew  York,  with  nearly  four  millions,  to  the 
small  suburban  villages,  with  i,ooo.  The  total  popula- 
tion of  this  metropolitan  district  is  at  present  estimated 
at  a  little  under  six  millions.  By  1920,  the  population, 
by  the  most  careful  estimates,  is  expected  to  be  about 
ten  and  one-half  millions. 

On  the  theory  that  the  possible  limits  of  a  town 
are  bounded  by  the  accessibility  of  the  business  centre 
to  the  people  who  work  there,  it  can  readily  be  seen 
that  the  development  of  the  telephone,  as  well  as  the 
transportation  sj-stem,  is  an  important  factor  in  the 
city's  growth.  By  the  last  Federal  census,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  island  of  Manhattan  alone  was  increasing 
at  the  rate  of  50,000  per  year,  and  the  population  of 
the  adjacent  outlying  regions  at  an  even  larger  ratio. 
Although  improved  transportation  has  done  a  great 
deal  to  bring  about  this  increase,  yet  without  question 
the  telephone  has  been  a  considerable  factor  in  creat- 
ing conditions  favorable  to  this  development. 

But  this  same  wonderful  citj-  growth  and  the  fact 
of  the  constant  increase  of  the  telephone  habit,  doubles 
the  complexity  of  the  problem.  It  means  that  not  only 
shall  the  great  demand  of  the  present  day  be  adequately 
met,  but  that  the  telephone  plant  itself  shall  be  compre- 
hensively planned  to  provide  for  the  increasing  traffic. 
Add  to  this  the  fact  that  telephone  equipment  is  con- 
stantly being  worn  out  by  its  frequent  use  and  must  be 
replaced,  and  also  that  it  has  been  and  still  is  being  con- 
stantly improved,  so  that  periodically  important  parts  of 
the  plant  must  be  rebuilt  to  bring  it  to  its  utmost  effi- 
ciency, and,  furthermore,  that  this  must  all  be  done  with- 
out disturbing  the  service,  and  an  idea  may  be  gained  in 
a  general  way  of  the  stupendous  nature  of  the  Xew  York 
telephone  prolilem. 

OPERATING  COMPANIES 
The   Bell   telephone   business   of   this    district   is    in 
the  hands  of  two  companies. 

First :  The  New  York  Telephone  Company,  operat- 
ing  in  the   old   City  of    New   York,  consisting  of  the 


Electrical    Handbook 


97 


Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx;  the  county 
of  Westchester,  a  region  containing  450  square  miles, 
extending  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Long  Island 
Sound,  with  a  population  of  203,000,  and  containing 
such   cities   as    Yonkers,   White    Plains,   Mount    Vernon 


General  Offices  of  New  York  ami  X 
81  Willoughby  Strt 


pany.  No. 


and  New  Rochelle — Yonkers,  the  largest  city,  having 
a  population  of  about  56,000;  a  small  part  of  Connecti- 
cut which  comes  within  the  prescribed  limit ;  and  part 
of  Rockland  County  in  the  State  of  New  York,  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson  River. 


p8  T  h  c    N  czv    Y  0  r  k 

Second :  The  New  York  &  New  Jersey  Telephone 
Company,  operating  in  all  of  Long  Island  and  Staten 
Island,  and  that  portion  of  New  Jersey  lying  within 
a  radius  of  fifty  miles  of  New  York  City  Hall.  The 
New  York  &  New  Jersey  Company  therefore  serves 
Brooklyn,  Staten  Island,  Newark,  Jersey  City,  Hoboken, 
Elizabeth,  Paterson,  the  Oranges,  and  many  other  im- 
portant suburban  points.  The  Rockaway  resorts  on 
Long  Lsland,  and  the  New  Jersey  resorts  in  Monmouth 
County,  such  as  Asbury  Park,  Long  Branch,  Ocean 
Grove,  Seabright,  Lakewood  and  Spring  Lake,  also 
come  within  this  territory.  This  company  is  organized 
on  the  same  general  lines  as  the  New  York  Telephone 
Conipan}\  making  due  allowance  for  the  different  char- 
acter of  the  territory.  Its  aim  is  to  e.xtend  the  telephone 
to  every  town,  village,  hamlet,  and,  indeed,  every  farm- 
house within  the  territory,  and  the  measure  of  its  success 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  now  has  installed  7S,ooo  sta- 
tions, and  is  adding  to  this  number  at  the  rate  of  from 
12,000  to  15,000  every  year.  Notwithstanding  this  tre- 
mendous growth  and  development,  the  standard  of 
efficiency  is  maintained  at  the  highest  point,  and  every 
effort  is  made  to  liring  each  subscriber  in  touch  with 
every  other  subscriber,  near  and  remote.  This  involves 
a  complete  system  of  toll  lines  ramifying  in  all  directions, 
which  are  centered  at  various  points  under  plans  care- 
fully considered  by  all  of  the  departments  concerned. 

A  third  company  is  also  prominently  concerned  in 
the  telephone  affairs  of  New  York.  It  is  popularly 
known  as  the  "Long  Distance  Company,"  which  is  the 
operating  branch  of  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company.  The  wires  of  the  Long  Distance 
Company  have  their  principal  centre  at  New  York  and 
are  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  stations  and  lines 
of  the  two  companies  above-mentioned  and  are  used 
to  connect  these  with  the  stations  of  the  principal  tele- 
phone companies  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  even  be- 
yond that  river,  connections  being  made  as  far  west  as 
Omaha. 


Electrical    Handbook  pp 

THE  NEW  YORK  TELEPHONE  COMPANY 

A  description  of  one  of  the  companies  concerned — 
the  New  York  Telephone  Company — will  ser\'e  as  an 
indication  of  the  methods  employed  by  all.  This  system 
not  only  provides  for  instantaneous  inter-communication 
between  all  stations  in  the  great  metropolitan  district,  but 
also  for  connection  between  any  one  of  these  stations  and 
any  station  on  the  continent  reached  by  the  Long  Dis- 
tance wires. 

ORGANIZATION 

The  organization  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Com- 
pany aims  at  the  highest  degree  of  efficiency,  and  it  has 
been  developed  and  perfected  until  at  the  present  time  it 
is  regarded  as  a  model  by  students  of  organization  and 
economics,  and  also  by  telephone  experts  from  all  parts 
of  the  world.  The  members  of  its  staff  have  been  care- 
fully selected  for  their  ability  and  knowledge,  and,  as 
promotion  comes  from  within  the  ranks  and  as  a  most 
liberal  policy  is  maintained  in  all  its  relations  with  its 
employees,  a  high  degree  of  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the 
Compan}'  is  maintained. 

As  shown  in  the  chart,  the  president  is  the  executive 
head  of  the  system.  His  immediate  subordinates  are  the 
1st  vice  president  and  general  manager;  the  2d  vice  pres- 
ident and  secretary;  the  treasurer,  and  the  auditor.  The 
2d  vice  president  and  secretary  is  the  corporation  attor- 
ney, and  looks  after  the  company's  legal  interests.  The 
auditor  is  the  responsible  bookkeeper  and  the  treasurer 
the  fiscal  agent. 

The  1st  vice  president  and  general  manager  is  respon- 
sible for  the  entire  working  system,  and  for  the  proper 
conduct  of  the  business  he  has  formed  four  general  de- 
partments— engineering,  supply,  contract  and  operating. 

The  Engineering  Department,  as  indicated  by  its 
name,  is  responsible  for  all  the  engineering  features 
of  the  work.  All  general  and  detailed  plans  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  plant  are  worked  out  by  this  department 
and    all    types    of    equipment,    and,    in    fact,    everything 


roo 


The    N  CIV    York 


which  enters  into  construction,  must  first  be  approved 
and  standardized  by  the  chief  engineer.  A  particularly 
important  work  done  by  this  department  is  the  so-called 
advance  study.  By  estimating  from  past  and  present 
conditions,  comprehensive  plans  are  made  from  different 
standpoints  of  what  the  demands  on  the  telephone  serv- 


M  rill;- 


Typical  Teleplione  Huilding.  i8th  Street  and  Irving  Place, 
New  York 


NEW  YORK  TELEPHONE  COMPANY 


«D.  Dept     ITolPD. 


PF 


"'^'^ 


a  EqnlpuAt  Dept.  BLlWInfi  Wcpl,  |  TinffWDtwl^  Rpnal/SbDn  CoDalructtoD  Debt. 


?p.'i'ay.ssii^ ^ 


iifMii' 


^Sj^      g'  Cb«lh..r  I, 


I    'PI; 


rSo.DIJt,    t>I>f.EDR.HD.Illft.      ^  =■     Pale  LlneToDitrueUan  |  T  rodcr«rouodT:»Me  Wtrrk 


ui  J  Co.  nciuFn  DlT.     Crnulj  DiT.     EuuAi  HIT.       ■  ^J..  ^k  i/l 


iiipfiiiiiaiiii|i 


ijiilli! 


lUmWIiIIiliTnilili  iT^lfliipillWfjIi ' 


i — I  yjr,i    Is     |g-        spi«i.,  I  I "■  1''';m.?c.w.. 

I     J     i  Is    i|    it       ft    Kwi."itSK...3|  5 --""J'fia-' 


Si     K.,.;,S'i-.K,.;,Ti.^  T.JN^W^|^ 


-!CSXmh.. 


"A-a.S^a'.a 


"•"'"'B%ia;» 


y^. 


T-Tin  I'  i  i  II   *  1 1 1 1 1 7*1 1  r  iS'^'^M  yi^Vi'ii  ^^'',"^^[^"'11"  1^1:^^°'"^ 


MartlVnA^p  jSiniU  U 


Electrical    Handbook  loi 

ice  will  be  five,  ten  or  fifteen  years  ahead.  These  studies 
are  most  carefully  prepared  and  fit  the  future  conditions 
with  remarkable  correctness,  considering  the  uncertain 
nature  of  the  factors  involved.  One  very  valuable  aspect 
of  this  work  lies  in  the  training  which  it  gives  each  de- 
partment to  make  accurate  predictions,  and  thus  to  allow 
adequate  and  timely  provision  to  be  made  for  future 
needs  in  any  branch  of  the  service.  The  chief  engineer, 
who  is  at  the  head  of  this  department,  has  a  force  of 
seventy  men. 

The  Supply  Department  fills  an  important  posi- 
tion in  the  organization.  The  purchasing  agent  is 
at  the  head  of  this  department,  and  under  his  direc- 
tion all  supplies  of  whatever  description  are  purchased 
and  distributed.  The  electrical  supplies  necessary  for 
the  construction  and  maintenance  of  a  large  telephone 
plant  are  very  expensive.  ^loreover,  types  of  equip- 
ment are  constantly  changing,  and  it  is  necessary  for 
the  purchasing  agent  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  market 
at  all  times  in  order  to  be  able  to  keep  the  telephone 
company  supplied  with  the  best  material  and  equip- 
ment at  a  reasonably  low  price.  The  distribution  of  sup- 
plies is  carefully  looked  after  by  the  storekeepers,  who 
are  subordinate  to  the  purchasing  agent,  and  supplies  are 
given  out  only  on  properly  authorized  requisitions.  The 
force  subordinate  to  the  purchasing  agent  numbers 
eighty-two. 

The  Contract  Department  has  to  deal  with  the  public 
in  nearly  all  commercial  relations.  It  makes  all  con- 
tracts for  service  and  takes  up  all  matters  with  sub- 
.scribers,  excepting  those  relating  to  the  service,  and 
the  collection  of  revenue.  This  department  keeps  in 
touch  with  the  business  and  social  conditions  of  the 
city,  and  the  needs  of  the  individual  and  the  public 
are  studied,  with  a  view  to  rendering  in  each  case 
the  service  appropriate  to  the  requirements  of  the  user. 
The  importance  of  this  department  can  readily  be 
seen,  as  it  devolves  upon  it  to  supply  the  business  which 
keeps  the  whole  organization  in  action.  The  number 
of  men  subordinate  to  the  contract  agent  is  125. 


102  T  h  c    N  e  IV    York 

The  Operating  Department  is  responsible  for  the 
construction  and  maintenance,  as  well  as  the  opera- 
tion, of  the  entire  plant.  Lender  the  general  superin- 
tendent, who  is  the  responsible  head  of  this  operating 
system,  there  are  five  active  departments,  all  in  close 
touch  with  one  another,  yet  each  dealing  with  an  en- 
tirely distinct  phase  of  the  business.  A  brief  descrip- 
tion of  these   departments   is  as   follows  : 

The  Construction  Department,  under  the  superin- 
tendent of  construction,  as  the  responsible  head,  deals 
with  what  we  may  term  the  outdoor  plant.  It  builds 
and  maintains  all  underground  and  overhead  con- 
struction, the  sphere  of  its  work  being  to  deal  with 
that  part  of  the  plant  which  connects  the  subscriber's 
interior  equipment  with  the  company's  exchange.  Al- 
though originally  the  wiring  was  entirely  of  the  over- 
head type,  a  gradual  reconstruction  has  taken  place 
and  the  system  is  now  entirely  underground,  excepting 
in  a  few  of  the  smaller  suburban  towns,  the  proportion 
of  the  overhead  wiring  in  Manhattan  being  only  two 
per  cent.  In  all  underground  work  the  engineering 
plans  are  carefully  followed,  and  the  "feeder  cables" 
are  laid  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  "spare  circuits"  to 
accommodate  the  steady  increase  in  business  and  for  use 
in  emergencies.  The  initial  expense  of  this  underground 
cable  work  is  large,  but  it  is  a  very  stable  method  of  con- 
struction and  contributes  materially  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  service.  The  total  force  of  the  superintendent  of 
construction  numbers  686. 

The  Equipment  Department  brings  the  subscriber's 
line  from  where  con.struction  leaves  it  to  the  actual 
point  of  operation.  It  equips  the  subscriber's  end  of 
the  line  and  connects  the  same  with  the  exchange  on 
the  other  end.  It  installs  and  maintains  all  inside  equip- 
ment and  does  all  the  inside  wiring,  and  it  makes  a 
thorough  inspection  of  the  subscriber's  equipment  at 
least  six  times  a  year,  while  the  central  office  equip- 
ment is  constantly  under  the  supervision  of  the  wire- 
chief,  who  is  an  employee  of  this  department.  Perhaps 
the  most  interesting  feature  in  connectic^n  with  the  work 


Electrical    Handbook 


103 


of  the  department  is  the  remarkable  way  which  it  has 
of  handling  cases  of  "trouble."  These  "troubles"  are 
divided  into  three  classes,  known  as  central  office,  line 
and  station  troubles.  Statistics  kept  over  a  considerable 
period  of  time  show  that  the  average  time  of  clearing  a 
central  office  trouble  is  thirteen  minutes  ;  line  trouble,  two 
hours  and  fourteen  minutes;  station  trouble,  one  hour 
and  eight  minutes.  The  plant  is,  however,  so  well  built 
and  maintained  that  these  "troubles"  are  reduced  to  the 
minimum.  The  total  number  of  employees  subordinate 
to  the  superintendent  of  equipment  is  972. 

To  provide  for  the  housing  of  the  inside  plant  as  well 
as  office  and  operating  rooms,  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company  has  at  present  twenty-three  buildings.  The 
buildings  are  of  the  most  modern  fireproof  construction, 
and  from  an  engineering  and  architectural  standpoint 
represent  the  best  types  attainable.  They  are  planned  not 
onlj'  with  reference  to  the  present  switchboards  which 
are  housed  in  them,  but  are  also  so  arranged  that  new 
switchboards  can  be  added  when  desired  and  the  old  ones 
removed   without    interfering   with    tlie    service.     While 


Public  Pay  Station  operated  by   .\e\v    York  Telephone  Company 


104  The   N  czu    York 

the  life  of  the  switchboard  is  variable,  the  buildings  them- 
selves have  an  indefinite  life  and  must  be  planned  on 
such  a  flexible  basis  that  they  will  permit  of  the 
removal  of  the  old  switchboards  when  necessary,  and  of 
the  installation  of  new  ones,  and  also,  so  far  as  possible, 
be  adaptable  to  the  various  changes  in  the  art  which 
are  constantly  taking  place.  These  buildings,  after  they 
have  been  constructed,  are  in  charge  of  a  superintendent 
of  buildings,  who  is  responsible  for  their  proper  care  and 
maintenance.     For  this  work  he  has  a  staflf  of  213  men. 

The  operation  of  the  plant,  the  actual  rendering 
of  telephone  service,  is  the  work  done  b}'  the  Traffic 
Department.  In  point  of  numbers,  this  department  is 
by  far  the  largest,  as  it  includes  the  operating  forces 
of  the  seventeen  Manhattan  Exchanges  and  tiie  twenty - 
seven  exchanges  scattered  through  the  Borough  of  the 
Bronx  and  Westchester  County,  Rockland  County  and 
Connecticut. 

This  department  also  maintains  in  certain  public 
places,  such  as  railroad  .stations,  ferry  houses,  hotels 
and  large  office  buildings,  public  pa}-  stations  attended 
by  regular  employees  of  the  telephone  company.  The 
total  number  of  pay  stations  operated  by  the  company 
is  very  large,  Manhattan  Island  alone  being  supplied 
with  over  5,cco.  So  thickly  are  these  pay  stations 
dotted  about  over  Manhattan  Island  that  wherever  one 
finds  himself  it  is  only  necessary  to  take  a  few  steps  in 
order  to  reach  a  public  telephone.  This  pay  station 
service  is  of  the  utmost  benefit  to  travelers  and  to  the 
public  at  large,  and  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  tele- 
phone system  of  New  York  which  is  universally 
appreciated. 

An  interesting  auxiliary  to  the  Traffic  Department  is 
the  telephone  operator's  school.  There,  under  experi- 
enced instructors,  those  applicants  for  positions  as  oper- 
ators who  have  passed  a  searching  preliminary  examina- 
tion are  drilled  in  the  principles  and  practice  of  telephone 
operating.  The  necessity  for  unfailing  politeness  and 
courtesy  in  all  of  their  dealings  with  the  telephone  cus- 
tomers is  a  point  which  is  insisted  on  from  the  begin- 


Electrical    Handbook 


105 


niiig  to  the  end  of  their  work  in  the  scliool.  The 
training  given  in  the  school  (|ualifies  the  operator  for 
entrance  to  any  of  the  company's  offices,  these  offices 
all   being   operated   on   a    standard    method.     By   means 


of  this  school  the  service  of  the  snbscribers  is  not  im- 
paired by  the  presence  of  nnskilled  operators  at  the 
working  switchboards. 

All  the  Central  office  employees,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  manager  and  his  assistant,  and  the  wire 
chief's   force,  are  girls,  as  they  are  found  to  make  the 


io6  T  h  c    N  c  zv    York 

I)fSt  operators.  At  tlic  present  time  it  takes  about 
2,ioo  of  these  operators  to  handle  the  New  York  busi- 
ness while  at  all  times  about  ninety  girls  are  in  train- 
ing at  the  school  to  fill  the  vacancies  which  are  occur- 
ring daily  throughout  the  ranks. 

Careful  handling  of  traffic  is  of  vital  importance  to 
the  success  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  and 
every  efifort  is  made  to  render  the  most  efficient  service. 
A  department  of  traffic  inspection  is  maintained  and 
every  complaint  regarding  the  service  is  taken  up  and 
carefully  investigated,  with  a  view  to  locating  the  trouble 
and  preventing  its  recurrence. 

The  efficiency  of  the  Traffic  Department  is  shown 
in  the  time  elements  of  traffic,  taken  from  recent  test 
sheets,  as  follows : 

Average  time  of  answering  the  calling  subscriber, 
3.8  seconds. 

Average  time  of  completing  a  local  call,  30.7  seconds. 
Average  time  of  completing  a  suburban  toll  call,  58 
seconds. 

The  personnel  of  the  entire  department  is  of  a 
high  order.  This  is  indicated  by  the  number  of  men 
with  college  training  which  are  taken  on  each  year  to 
fill  the  various  positions  created  by  the  growth  of  the 
company's  business,  and  also  by  the  fact  that  of  the 
number  of  girls  applying  for  operator's  training  in  the 
school,  only  eight  per  cent,  are  accepted.  The  total 
number  of  employees  subordinate  to  the  superintendent 
of  traffic  is  2,485. 

One  of  the  organization  developments  incident  to 
the  growth  of  the  telephone  system  is  the  Repair  De- 
partment. This  department  which  a  few  j'ears  ago  con- 
sisted of  but  a  dozen  equipment  repair  men,  working  in 
a  small  repair  shop,  has  grown  into  a  large  and  active 
department  occupying  an  entire  new  building  on  i8th 
street  near  Chelsea  square,  with  the  exception  of  the  two 
upper  floors,  which  are  occupied  by  the  new  Chelsea  ex- 
change. This  is  a  model  workshop  in  every  respect  and 
is  thoroughly  equipped  to  do  any  kind  of  repair  work 
which    may   arise   in   connection   with    telephone    equip- 


Electrical    Handbook  loy 

ment.     At   the   present  time   the   superintendent   of  the 
repair  shop  has  a  total  force  of  147. 

PRIVATE  BRANCH  EXCHANGES 

An  interesting  development  of  the  New  York  Tele- 
phone Company's  service  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  busy 
community  is  the  private  branch  exchange.  This  is  an 
application  of  the  exchange  principles  to  the  subscriber's 
station.  A  switchboard  is  installed  on  the  subscriber's 
premises,  with  as  many  lines  to  the  company's  nearest 
exchange  as  are  needed,  and  local  lines  terminating 
in  telephone  stations  throughout  the  building  or  off 
the  premises  wherever  desired.  This  gives  the  large 
users  of  the  telephone,  such  as  hotels,  apartment 
houses,  department  stores  and  large  business  firms, 
a  most  efficient  and  flexible  service.  The  local  opera- 
tor receives  and  distributes  the  calls,  both  incoming  and 
outgoing.  There  are  at  the  present  time  in  New  York 
over  5,000  of  these  private  branch  exchanges,  with  a 
total  of  over  60,000  stations,  and  the  number  is  constantly 
increasing.  The  value  of  this  private  branch  exchange 
service  to  large  users  of  the  telephone  can  scarcely  be 
estimated.  To  the  large  establishment  it  furnishes  a 
complete  interior  service  to  all  departments,  yet  at  the 
same  time  each  station  is  capable  of  immediate  con- 
nection with  any  other  station  in  the  territory  of  the 
New  York  Telephone  Company,  and,  in  fact,  any  other 
station  reached  by  the  Long  Distance  wires.  It  means 
immediate  accessibility  ,at  all  times  to  any  department 
and  it  solves  the  great  problem  of  a  large  city,  particu- 
larly in  New  York,  of  how  to  do  things  quickly. 

The  telephone  traffic  features  presented  in  each 
section  of  New  York  City  are  individual.  In  the  busi- 
ness district  the  tendency  is  to  crowd  the  business 
day  into  as  few  hours  as  possible,  but  during  those 
hours  top-speed  is  maintained.  This  feature  is  brought 
out  with  clearness  in  the  graphic  chart  showing  the  rise 
and  fall  of  traffic  in  the  Broad  Exchange  District. 
Practically  all  the  business  of  this  district  emanates 
from  large  commercial  exchanges  and  brokerage  houses 


io8 


The    N  c  IV    York 


where  the  Ijusiness   hours   extend  only   from    lO  A.   M. 
to  3  P.  M. 

In   the    theatre    district    a    lieavy   traffic    is   continued 

Originating  Calls  Per  Hour 

(-t         t^         fOCOCO*^!^         en         c^         Oi-I         ->         OC         'O         '-3         00         H^ 


12P.M 
lA.M, 

2  "  " 

3  "  " 

4  "  " 

5  '•  " 

6  "  " 


9  '•  " 

10  "  " 

11  "  " 

12  "  " 


%    1P.M. 


3  '  '• 

4  ■•  •' 

5"  " 

6  "  '■ 


9"  " 
10"  " 
11"  " 
12P.M 


=   i  1 

^   8   i 

§  1 

\   1 

\  i 

1  i 

^     8     I 

5      §      % 

'   i 

:  % 

'       2      S 

5     «    a 

i  i 

1  i 

^    S3              5 
5     0             < 

?    0     ?     ¥ 

i   &-'h    § 
-'"IS- 

•i  i  i  s 
ss     1 

H            2 

1 

I 

\ 

^ 

■ 

— 

— 



"     ■ 



> 

» 

/^ 

— 

— 

— ■ 

c 

«», 

"~~- 

-^ 

^ 

P 

^ 

^ 

■ — 

■ 

^ 

-^ 

'' 

^ 

^ — ^ 

"^ 

, 

/ 

into  the  "wee  sma'  hours,"  as  ilhistrated  in  the  graphic 
record  of  the  38th  Street  Exchange,  wdiile  the  graphic 
chart  of  Riverside,  wdiich  is  a  residence  district,  shows 
a  more  natural  variation  of  load. 


Electrical    Handbook 


I0(^ 


Manhattan  Island  has  been  divided  into  seventeen 
exchange  districts,  the  facilities  of  each  exchange 
being  adapted  to  the  special  requirements  of  that  region, 


Oiifriiiatiiif!:  Calls  IVr  lloui 


12  P.M 


1  A 
2" 
3" 
4" 
5" 
6" 


10" 

a  11"  ■ 

© 

5    12" 
IP.] 
2" 
3" 

4ii 


,M. 


o       oc>oc5oc5       ooo       oooocSooooc 
no       ooooooooooSoooooooS 

/ 

1 

/ 

Curve  Sliowing;  Hourly  Varatioii 

iu 

Origiuatiiiff  Traffic 

at  the 

38  th.  ST.  CENTRAL  OFFICE 

froui 
Pej?  Count  of  April  11.1904. 

— 

— 

— 

-^ 

V 

^ 

■^ 

.^ 

:> 

/ 

— 

— 

\ 



\ 

\^ 

> 

/ 

^ 

/ 

/ 

^ 

/ 

J 

/ 

'~     i 

and  also  being  ample  to  take  care  of  the  busiest  hour 
of  the  busiest  day  of  the  busiest  month. 

To  a  high  degree  the  service  in  New  York  must  be 
efficient  and  permanent  as  well  as  rapid,  and  to  effect 
this    result    the    plant    must    not    only   1)e    of   the    most 


no 


The   New    York 


modern   construction,   but   it   must  be   so  protected   and 
maintained   tbat   the   interruption   of  the   service   in   the 
slightest  degree  shall  be  an  exceptional  event.    The  avail- 
Orisinatine  Calls  Per  Hour 


H-  l-»  Is3 


8     S 


O'  kL-  UT 

8    8     8 


m    ^1    -J 

S     J5     ss 
8    8    8 


8    8     8 


1  A.M. 
2 


8-' 
9" 
10" 
U" 
la" 
IP.J 
2" 
3" 
4" 


V 

\ 

Curve  Showing  Hourly  Varation 

in 

Orisiiiatinsj  Traffic 

at  tlie 

RIVER.SIDK  CENTRAL  OFFICE 

from 

IVs  Count  of  April  11.1904. 

V 

^ 

:> 

! 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

( 

i 

/ 

f 

\ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

ability  of  the  service  must  never  be  impaired  for  a  mo- 
ment of  the  twenty-four  hours  of  any  day  of  any  year. 

CENTRAL  OFFICES 
By   far  the  most  complex  part  of  the  telephone  ap- 
])aratus  is  the  switching  appliance  in  the  central  offices. 


Electrical    II  a  ii  d  b  u  o  k 


III 


This  switching  apparatus  is  of  a  uniform  type  through- 
out all  the  central  offices  in  the  city  and  a  description  of 
one  exchange  will  suffice  for  all. 

The    Cortlandt    Exchange    occupies    an    entire    floor 
of   the    New    York    Telephone    Company's    building   on 


Cortlandt  street  and  three  floors  of  the  adjacent  wing, 
extending  through  to  15  Dey  street.  This  wing  contains 
the  cable-terminals,  distributing  frames,  storage  bat- 
teries, power  plant  and  other  auxiliary  apparatus. 

The  lines  are  brought  in  under  ground  in  large  paper- 


112  The    N  CIV    York 

insulated  cables.  These  cables  are  made  up  of 
twisted-pair  copper  wires,  insulated  with  spiral  wrap- 
pings of  paper  and  the  whole  enclosed  in  a  lead  casing. 
The  wires  end  in  the  main  distributing  frame  and  on 
the  end  of  each  pair  is  placed  a  carbon  plate  lightning 
arrester  and  a  fuse.  This  takes  care  of  any  foreign 
current  which  may  get  on  the  line.  The  main  dis- 
tributing frame  allows  the  changing  of  the  entering 
wires  of  the  subscriber's  lines  without  changing  the 
telephone  numbers.  The  wires  pass  from  the  main 
frame  to  the  intermediate  frame,  the  object  of  which 
is  to  permit  of  any  telephone  call  being  answered  at 
any  position  of  the  switchboard,  thus  equalizing  the 
operator's  load.  These  loads  in  the  busy  Cortlandt 
exchange  range  from  fifty  to  ninety  lines  per  operator. 
From  this  frame  the  line  enters  the  switchboard  and 
appears  in  an  answering  jack  at  some  position  and 
also  appears  in  the  multiple  jacks  in  every  section  of 
the  entire  switchboard,  known  as  the  "A"  or  subscriber's 
switchboard. 

When  the  subscriber  takes  his  receiver  off  the  hook, 
the  exchange  is  signalled  by  the  lighting  of  a  small 
incandescent  lamp  placed  immediately  below  the  an- 
swering jack.  The  operator  inserts  one  plug  of  her 
pair  in  the  answering  jack  and  this  extinguishes  the 
light.  By  means  of  a  listening  key,  she  connects  the 
subscriber's  circuit  and  finds  out  what  the  calling  party 
wants;  she  then  takes  the  other  plug  of  the  pair  and 
connects  the  subscriber  with  the  number  asked  for  if 
it  happens  to  be  in  her  exchange.  If  not  in  her  exchange, 
.she  connects  to  a  trunk  line  leading  to  the  exchange 
where  the  number  is  located. 

Until  the  called  party  answers,  the  supervisory  lamp 
associated  with  the  calling  plug  remains  lighted.  When 
the  subscriber  answers,  the  lamp  is  put  out.  As  long 
as  these  two  lights  are  extingui.shed  the  subscribers 
have  the  receivers  off  the  hooks  and  are  using  the  line, 
when  they  hang  up,  the  lamps  light  and  this  is  the 
signal  for  the  operator  to  disconnect.  If  the  sub- 
scriber's line  wanted  should  be  in  use,  the  operator  will 


Electrical    Handbook 


113 


hear  a  sharp  click  when  she  pUigs  in  on  it ;  this  shows  her 
that  the  line  is  busy. 

The  calls  from  other  exchanges  coining  in  over  the 
exchange  trunk  lines  are  received  at  the  "B"  or  incom- 


ing trunk  board.  The  operators  at  these  boards  simply 
put  up  the  connections ;  they  have  no  dealings  with 
the  subscriber. 

The  "A"  switchboard  of  the  Cortlandt  exchange  is 
176  feet  long  and  is  divided  into  30  sections.  The  '"B" 
board  is  82  feet  long  with  18  sections.  The  "A"  board 
has  a  capacity  for  9,000  lines  with  840  outgoing  trunks  to 


114 


The    New    York 


the  other  exchanges.  Ihe  "B"  board  has  the  same  ca- 
pacity for  Cortlaiult  subscribers  and  1,000  incoming 
trunks  on  separate  boards  makes  a  complete  double 
track. 


The  switchboard  contains  over  a  half-million  spring- 
jacks  and  switches  and  about  14,000  incandescent  lamp 
signals.  Each  signal  and  springjack  is  connected  to 
the  wiring  bj'  several  wires  and  all  connections  are 
soldered  for  greater  security.  The  number  of  soldered 
connections  in  the  exchange  run  well  up  into  the  mil- 
lions. 


Electrical    Handbook 


115 


Each  operator  is  provided  with  her  individual  op- 
erating set,  consisting  of  breast-plate  transmitter,  and 
head  receiver,  the  operator  connecting  her  set  to  the 
switchboard  by  a  cord  and  plug  arrangement.  The  num- 
ber of  operators  in  this  exchange  is  126. 


The  entire  ninth  floor  of  the  Dey  street  building 
is  given  over  to  the  operators'  quarters.  Here  is  a 
spacious  locker-room,  with  sanitary  wire  netting  lockers, 
one  for  each  operator ;  a  large  kitchen  and  dining-room 
where  tea,  coffee,  etc.,  are  provided  by  the  company; 
a    sitting   room   provided    with   newspapers   and    maga- 


ii6  The    New    York 

zines ;  a  sick-bay,  lavatory,  etc.,  all  under  the  charge 
of  a  matron.  These  arrangements  are  provided  in  all 
the  exchanges. 

The  maintenance  of  this  part  of  the  plant,  the  loca- 
tion of  troubles,  and  the  connecting  and  disconnecting 
of  telephone  stations,  is  carried  on  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  wire-chief,  who  is  an  employee  of  the 
Equipment  Department.  He  also  has  charge  of  the 
power  plant,  which  occupies  three  floors  of  the  Cort- 
landt  street  building.  This  exchange,  as  well  as  all  others 
in  New  York,  is  operated  on  the  common  battery  system, 
and  in  this  exchange  alone  seven  motor  generators,  ag- 
gregating nearly  fifty-horse  power  in  capacity,  are  used 
for  furnishing  current  for  charging  the  storage  batteries 
and  for  the  ringing  and  testing  currents. 

Every  station  in  connection  with  any  of  the  exchanges 
of  The  New  York  Telephone  Company  is  equipped  with 
a  long  distance  telephone  instrument  with  a  "solid  back" 
battery  transmitter  and  a  Bell  receiver.  These  instru- 
ments are  of  the  best  type  and  are  everywhere  the  recog- 
nized standard  telephones.  The  wall  set  and  the  desk 
stand  set  are  the  two  convenient  styles  in  common  use. 

UNDERGROUND  LINES 
The  wires  leave  the  exchange  under  ground  in  lead 
covered  cables.  These  are  paper  insulated  and  when 
the  distance  is  short  as  many  as  600  pair  of  wires  are 
placed  in  a  single  cable.  From  these  large  cables  in 
the  subway  the  wires  are  distributed  by  smaller  cables 
to  the  neighboring  blocks.  There  are  two  conduit 
systems  for  carrying  the  underground  wires  in  New 
York  City,  one  containing  the  electric  light  and  power 
cables,  and  the  other  the  telephone,  telegraph,  and  the 
other  low  tension  wires.  Each  of  these  conduit  systems 
is  owned  and  operated  by  a  separate  company. 

Although  everything  possible  is  done  to  guard 
against  interruption  of  service,  accidents  will  occur 
occasionally,  the  most  serious  being  those  due  to  fire. 
Recognizing  this  fact,  the  Construction  Department 
has   installed  in  the  shop  a  fire-alarm   and   whenever  a 


Electrical    Handbook 


117 


fire  occurs  an  experienced  lineman  immediately  looks 
up  in  the  graphic  records  the  exact  location  of  the  cables 
and  wires  on  the  premises  threatened  and  immediately 
goes  to  the  scene  to  look  after  the  company's  interests. 

Since  the  subway  work  for  the  construction  of 
the  Underground  Rapid  Transit  Companj^  was  started, 
the  New  York  Telephone  Company  has  been  caused  a 


Cables  at  Broadway  and  Fulton  Street  before  fire,  manhole  having 
been  removed  to  make  way  for  underground  railway  structure 


great  amount  of  serious  troul^le  due  to  the  disturbance 
of  its  cable  plant.  Although  the  subway  fire  at  the 
corner  of  Broadway  and  Fulton  street  has  been  the 
only  interference  which  has  caused  serious  difficulties 
to  the  public  at  large,  the  continued  disturbed  condi- 
tion of  the  streets  for  the  past  four  years  has  given  great 
annoyance,  and  the  Construction  Department  has  been 
obliged  to  keep  constantly  on  the  lookout  to  protect  the 
plant  as  best  it  could  in  its  exposed  condition.     The  fol- 


it8 


The    New    York 


lowing  incident  will  serve  to  show  with  what  the  Con- 
struction Department  has  had  to  contend  : 

To  make  way  for  the  subway  structure  of  the  under- 
ground railway,  in  course  of  construction,  the  con- 
tractors removed  the  protecting  manhole  at  Broadway 
and  Fulton  street  provided  for  the  cables,  and  massed 
these  cables  in  a  huge  tangle.     These  cables  were  tem- 


After  fire,  cables  brought  to  surface  and  spliced 


porarily  protected  by  being  wrapped  in  burlap  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  wooden  framework.  By  some  unknown 
means  a  fire  started  in  the  excavation  and  was  com- 
municated to  the  woodwork  and  burlap  around  the 
cables.  The  heat,  being  intense,  melted  off  the  lead 
covering  of  twentj'-two  large  telephone  cables,  including 
a  Pupin  long  distance  cable,  connecting  5,250  pairs  of 
wires,  and  fused  them  all  together  in  a  molten  mass. 
Over  5,000  subscribers  were  instantly  cut  out  of  service. 


Electrical    Handbook  ii() 

In  five  minutes,  picked  men  were  dispatched  to  the 
scene  to  repair  the  damage.  Within  an  hour  and  a 
half  after  the  accident,  the  long  distance  wires  in  the 
Pupin  cable  were  working,  and  in  a  little  over  twenty- 
four  hours  the  entire  system  was  working  as  if  nothing 
had  happened.  The  cost  of  this  accident  to  the  telephone 
company  was  over  $10,000. 

A  peculiar  electrical  difficulty  has  always  been  pre- 
sented in  the  operation  of  the  underground  plant.  It 
has  been  found  that  to  talk  through  a  circuit  of  one 
mile  of  underground  cable  was  as  difficult  as  to  talk 
through  twenty-eight  miles  of  overhead  wire.  Thus. 
a  ten-mile  stretch  on  Manhattan  Island  would  present 
the  same  difficulty  as  280  miles  of  overhead  line.  Tele- 
phone companies  for  years  have  experimented  to  over- 
come this  difficulty,  but  the  only  invention  which 
has  helped  to  facilitate  underground  transmission  is 
that  of  Doctor  Pupin.  of  Columbia  University.  His 
invention  consists  in  applying  inductance  to  telephone 
lines.  His  method  is  to  wind  small  coils  of  copper 
wire  upon  iron  cores,  and  place  one  of  these  cores 
in  each  circuit  at  intervals  of  about  a  mile  throughout 
its  length.  The  matter  of  spacing  these  inductance 
cores  was  a  subject  of  exhaustive  mathematical  study 
by  Dr.  Pupin,  who  determined  that  their  successful 
use  depended  upon  the  number  of  them  per  telephone 
wave  length. 

The  patents  of  Dr.  Pupin's  invention  have  been  pur- 
chased by  the  Bell  telephone  interests,  and  the  telephone 
engineers  have  been  steadily  at  work  perfecting  the 
practical  details  of  this  appliance.  This  invention  has 
been  applied  experimentally  to  the  underground  ends 
of  the  long  distance  lines  branching  out  from  New 
York,  and  satisfactory  results  have  been  obtained  on 
these  short  lengths  of  cable.  Further  research  into 
the  extension  of  these  Pupin  cables  is  being  made  by 
the  company's  engineers  with  the  promise  of  excellent 
results. 

Still  another  phase  of  the  cable  work  is  that  pre- 
sented   in    laving    wires    across    the    Hudson    and    East 


120 


The    N  e  IV    York 


rivers.  The  Borough  of  Manhattan  being  on  an 
island,  it  is  necessary  to  place  wires  across  these  rivers 
to  establish  connections  with  Long  Island  on  one  side 
and  New  Jersey  on  the  other.  For  this  submarine 
service  special  cables  containing  200  pairs  of  wires  are 
used.  These  cables  are  paper  insulated  in  the  usual 
way ;  then  sheathed  in  a  water-tight  lead  casing,  and 
for  further  protection  are  also  enclosed  in  a  heavy 
wire    armor.     These    cables    are    laid    from    a    special 


t  able  tug  laying  a  30  pr.  lead  covered  submarine  cable  under 
North   River 


cable  tug,  and  are  anchored  in  terminal  houses  on  either 
side  of  the  river. 

The  only  disturbance  of  these  cables  which  is  in 
any  way  serious  is  that  due  to  the  fouling  of  the  anchors 
of  vessels.  Although  this  feature  cannot  be  obviated, 
it  is  taken  into  careful  consideration  when  the  cables 
are  laid,  and  enough  spare  cables  are  placed  to  handle 
the  service  without  interruption,  notwithstanding  the 
disturbed  conditions  due  to  this  cause. 


Electrical    Handbook  121 

PLAN  OF  RATES 

Up  to  1894  there  had  always  been  a  fixed  rental 
for  telephones,  each  subscriber  leasing  an  instrument 
for  one  year  and  paying  a  fixed  rate,  regardless  of  use. 
It  was  found  that  this  method  of  charging  for  tele- 
phone service  worked  an  injustice  to  the  customers 
whose  use  was  relatively  small,  and  since,  at  this  time, 
the  plant  had  been  put  in  good  condition,  and  it  was 
possible  to  take  on  new  business  rapidly,  the  problem 
presented  itself  of  readjusting  the  rate  schedule  so  that 
the  telephone  service  could  be  brought  within  the  reach 
of  all.  In  the  solution  of  this  problem  the  message  was 
adopted  as  the  unit  of  measure  in  the  principal  cities  in 
the  territory. 

That  the  new  plan  was  appreciated  by  the  public  is 
shown  in  the  increase  in  the  number  of  subscribers  im- 
mediately following  its  adoption.  At  the  close  of  1894 
there  were  10,396  stations  in  old  New  York.  At  the  end 
of  1897  there  were  21,595  stations — an  increase  in  three 
years  of  11,199  stations.  In  1903  the  increase  in  Man- 
hattan and  Bronx  alone  was  over  25,500  stations.  In  the 
entire  territory  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Company 
and  the  New  York  and  New  Jersey  Telephone  Company 
there  are  now  in  service  and  under  contract  for  imme- 
diate connection  over  225,000  stations. 

Since  1894  the  rate  plan  has  undergone  a  complete 
evolution,  and  every  year  that  has  passed  has  seen  new 
changes  in  rate  schedules.  The  object  of  this  evolution 
has  been  to  so  adjust  the  rates  and  the  forms  of  service 
that  the  telephone  may  be  brought  into  the  home  in  the 
city,  or  in  the  village,  and  may  be  utilized  in  all  lines  of 
business. 

That  rates  are  adjusted  on  a  fair  and  reasonable  basis 
throughout  the  territory  is  shown  by  the  facts  that 
there  is  a  continual  gain  of  stations  and  that  there  are 
more  telephones  in  this  territory  than  in  any  other  sim- 
ilar territory  of  the  world  four  times  its  size. 

In  the  development  of  this  system  and  in  the  con- 
struction   and    operation    of    the    plant    extraordinary 


122  The    N  c  zv    York 

difficulties  have  had  to  be  overcome.  Thirty  years  ago 
the  telephone  was  a  new  invention  and  the  pnblic  was 
skeptical  as  to  its  practical  value.  It  was  not  only 
necessary  to  perfect  an  organization  and  build  a  new 
plant,  but  also  to  convince  the  public  of  the  utility  of 
telephone  service. 

In  1888,  when  the  .system  was  beginning  to  be  fairly 
well  established  in  New  York,  the  construction  was  of 
the  overhead  type  and  the  streets  were  full  of  overhead 
wires.  At  this  time  the  subway  laws  were  passed  and 
a  most  serious  problem  was  presented ;  the  overhead 
lines  must  be  abandoned  and  an  underground  system 
constructed  to  take  their  place. 

There  was  no  chance  of  benefiting  by  the  experi- 
ence of  others,  as  there  were  no  other  cities  either  here 
or  abroad  where  similar  work  had  been  done  to  any 
great  extent  and  after  expensive  experimental  work, 
new  central  offices  were  constructed  and  a  new  method 
of  working  the  entire  system  was  determined  upon. 

Since  1886,  the  entire  plant  has  been  reconstructed 
three  times,  in  order  that  by  bringing  the  equipment 
up  to  the  highest  possible  standard,  the  service  might 
be  rendered  more  efficient,  and  it  can  readily  be  seen 
that  the  expense  of  bringing  this  plant  up  to  its  present 
standard  has  been  enormous. 


THE  METROPOLITAN  STREET 
RAILWAT  SrSTEM 


The    Metropolitan    Street    Railway 
System 

THE  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  system  em- 
braces all  the  street  surface  railway  lines  of 
the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx. 
Its  lines  in  the  Bronx  also  extend  widely 
into  the  adjoining  county  of  Westchester,  its  northerly 
termini  in  the  villages  of  Tarrytown,  White  Plains  and 
Mamaroneck  being  distant  about  thirty-three  miles  from 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  system  at  the  Battery. 
Within  these  limits,  with  about  500  miles  of  track,  it 
serves  a  resident  population  of  nearly  two  and  one-half 
millions,  of  which  all  but  about  four  hundred  thousand 
are  south  of  the  Harlem  River.  It  traverses  the  most 
densely  populated  districts  in  the  world  and  its  traffic 
and  earnings  exceed  those  of  any  other  street  railway. 
The  system  is  separated  into  two  general  divisions 
by  the  Harlem  River,  the  lines  north  of  the  river  being 
operated  independently  of  those  in  the  Borough  of 
Manhattan.  These  two  divisions  differ  radically  in 
characteristics.  The  system  in  ?ilanhattan  is  essentially 
and  completely  urban,  with  dense  traffic  on  nearly  every 
line.  Its  electric  construction  is  all  of  the  conduit  type, 
substantial  and  costh-  in  the  e.xtreme.  In  the  territory 
of  the  Union  Railway  Company  (the  company  which 
operates  the  lines  north  of  the  Harlem  River)  totally 
different  conditions  prevail.  Its  lines  extend  from 
termini  in  the  Borough  of  ^Manhattan  across  the  Harlem 
River  bridges  into  sparsely  populated  districts  of  the 
Bronx  and  Westchester  county,  and  its  traffic  is  largely 
suburban.  It  is  operated  exclusively  by  the  overhead 
trolley  and  many  of  its  outlying  and  unimportant  lines 
are  still  single  track. 

125 


126  The    A^  c  zv    York 


HISTORY 


The  Metropolitan  system  is  the  result  o\  successive 
leases,  mergers  and  amalgamations  of  over  forty  inde- 
pendent companies,  organized  under  a  great  variety 
of  charters,  scarcely  any  two  of  which  are  similar  in 
their  provisions.  A  brief  history  of  the  inception  and 
growth  of  the  street  railway  enterprises  now  vested  in 
the  New  York  City  Railway  Company  is  worthy  of  pass- 
ing notice.  It  commences  in  1832  with  the  building  by 
the  New  York  &  Harlem  Railroad  Company  of  the  first 
street  railway  line  in  the  world.  This  line  extended 
from  City  Hall  Square  to  the  village  of  Harlem  over  a 
route  which  is  now  embraced  in  the  Fourth  Avenue 
line  of  the  Metropolitan  system  and  the  present  tunnel 
and  viaduct  of  the  New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River 
Railroad  Company.  This  line,  which  at  first  was  oper- 
ated by  horses,  was  later  extended  across  the  Harlem 
River  and  the  horse  cars  replaced  by  steam  locomotives 
and  trains.  The  growth  of  the  city  in  later  years  caused 
successive  withdrawals  of  steam  service,  first,  in  1854, 
below  what  is  now  Madison  Square  Garden,  and, 
again  in  1870,  below  the  Grand  Central  Station. 

In  1835  the  first  stage  line  for  local  travel  w^as 
opened  over  the  route  of  the  present  Third  Avenue 
line  between  the  City  Hall  and  Harlem,  but  it  was  not 
until  1852  that  there  was  any  addition  to  the  street  rail- 
way mileage.  With  the  opening  in  that  year  of  the 
Sixth  Avenue  Railroad,  with  four  miles  of  line,  develop- 
ment became  active,  and  in  1854  the  Third  Avenue  Rail- 
road Company,  organized  a  year  previous  to  take  over 
the  stage  line  operating  on  that  thoroughfare,  added 
four  miles  more,  closely  followed  by  the  Second  Avenue 
Railroad  Company  and  the  Eighth  Avenue  Railroad 
Company,  each  with  about  the  same  mileage.  By  i860 
there  were  sixty  miles  of  horse  car  lines  in  operation  on 
the  Island  of  Manhattan,  and  by  1870  this  had  increased 
to  142  miles. 

Between  1870  and  18X0  the  elevated  railroads  were 
constructed  and  opened,  making  serious  inroads  on  the 


Electrical    Handbook  121 

traffic  of  the  surface  lines — so  much  so  that  many  of 
the  owners  of  the  latter  feared  they  would  never  again 
pay  operating  expenses.  In  1885  a  franchise  was  granted 
for  a  railroad  on  Broadway  from  the  Battery  to  Central 
Park.  This  famous  street  had  up  to  that  time  been 
served  only  by  stage  lines  and  the  opposition  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  railroad  was  very  great,  predictions  being 
freely  made  that  the  addition  of  cars  to  the  vehicle 
traffic  would  congest  the  street  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  would  be  ruined.  Although  at  that  time  cable  rail- 
ways were  not  uncommon  and  the  Third  Avenue  Rail- 
road Company  was  installing  such  a  system  on  its  125th 
Street  and  Amsterdam  Avenue  lines,  the  Broadway 
road  was  built  for  horse  operation,  and  as  such  proved 
the  fastest  line  in  the  city  and  upset  all  the  predictions 
of  its  opponents  by  facilitating  travel  on  that  street  in  a 
manner  unknown  theretofore. 

About  this  time  a  group  of  Philadelphia  capitalists 
conceived  the  idea  of  acquiring  and  consolidating  the 
street  railways  of  New  York.  They  acquired  first  the 
Chambers  Street  &  Grand  Street  Ferry  Railroad  Com- 
pany and  later  the  Houston,  West  Street  and  Pavonia 
Ferry  Railroad  Company,  the  consolidation  of  these  two 
lines  being  the  first  step  in  the  merger.  Strong  financial 
interests  from  New  York  entered  the  syndicate,  compre- 
hensive "plans  were  made  and  in  rapid  succession  the 
Broadway  and  Seventh  Avenue.  Sixth  Avenue,  Ninth 
Avenue  and  23rd  Street  roads  were  leased  and  added  to 
the  system.  From  that  time  to  1900  all  the  competing 
and  independent  properties  on  the  island  of  JNIanhattan 
were  one  by  one  acquired  by  purchase  or  lease.  In  that 
year  the  last  step  in  the  consolidation  was  taken  in  the 
bringing  into  the  sytem  of  the  Metropolitan  Company's 
only  surviving  competitor,  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad 
Company,  with  seventy-one  miles  of  track  in  the  Bor- 
ough of  ^Manhattan  and  one  hundred  and  tliirty-five 
miles  north  of  the  Harlem  River,  together  with  uncon- 
structed  franchises  of  great  extent  and  value. 

The  final  organization  of  the  several  corporations 
through   which   the  properties   are   now   controlled   is  a 


128  T  Ij  c    X  c  zv    Y  0  r  k 

little  complex.  It  sufifices  to  say  that  the  Metropolitan 
Securities  Company  is  the  controlling  organization  and 
that  the  New  York  City  Railway  Company  is  the  oper- 
ating company  south,  and  the  Union  Railway  Company 
north,  of  the  Harlem  River.  The  organization  of  the 
New  York  City  Railway  Company  for  operating  pur- 
poses is  shown  in  the  accompanying  chart.  The  Union 
Railway  Company  has  its  own  executive  and  operating 
organization  and  the  officers  of  the  New  York  City 
Railway  Company  take  no  part  in  its  management. 

In  the  matter  that  follows,  the  Union  Railway  Com- 
pany should  not  be  understood  to  be  included  unless  spe- 
cifically so  stated,  as  the  space  allotted  to  this  article  will 
not  permit  a  description  of  its  system  which  presents  no 
features  differing  greatly  from  those  of  many  other 
overhead  trolley  roads  in  the  United  States. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  MECHANIC.\L  TR.\CTION 

The  earliest  plans  of  the  syndicate  for  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  New  York  roads  contemplated  the  applica- 
tion of  an  improved  motive  power  to  the  entire  system. 
The  overhead  trolley  was  coming  rapidly  into  use  as 
the  most  approved  form  of  surface  traction,  and  had 
been  adopted  by  the  \\'est  End  Street  Railway  Com- 
pany of  Boston  for  its  entire  system  of  250  miles  of 
track — at  that  time  the  largest  city  railway  system  in 
the  world.  In  September,  1892.  a  portion  of  the  Union 
Railway  (then  an  independent  road)  was  equipped  with 
the  overhead  trolley — the  first  electric  railway  mileage 
in  the  City  of  New  York.  But  New  York  was  at  that 
time  extensively  engaged  in  burying  overhead  wires  of 
all  kinds  and,  for  the  Island  of  Manhattan,  at  least,  the 
opposition  to  the  overhead  trolley,  both  for  aesthetic  and 
practical  reasons,  was  so  great  as  to  be  prohibitive.^ 
Philadelphia,  Washington,  Chicago,  San  Francisco  and 
other  cities  had  the  cable  in  successful  operation — in  fact, 
it  was  already  in  use  on  the  Third  Avenue  system  in 
New  York;  and  for  the  Broadway  line,  which  had  de- 
veloped what  was  then  an  enormous  traffic,  continuous 
throughout   the   day,   with    a    short,   practically   straight 


Electrical    Handbook  I2Q 


-^^\:. 

\ 

\*  . 

"'   7  ■) 


1^0  The    N  czu    York 

run,  it  seemed  the  best  power  available  and  was  duly 
adopted.  The  opening  of  the  line  from  the  Battery  to 
Central  Park  in  July,  1893,  was  attended  with  such  suc- 
cess that  plans  were  immediately  made  for  extensions  to 
Harlem  on  either  side  of  Central  Park,  through  Colum- 
bus and  Lexington  Avenues.  The  cable  system  was, 
however,  so  enormouslj^  expensive  both  to  construct  and 
operate,  and  was  capable  of  so  little  flexibility,  that  it 
was  recognized  from  the  first  that  its  application  must 
be  confined  to  lines  of  the  first  importance,  and  that  a 
more  flexible  and  economical  system  must  be  found. 
The  Company's  engineers  were  sent  to  Buda-Pesth, 
Hungarj-.  and  other  European  cities  to  study  the  latest 
development,  and  a  reward  of  $50,000  was  offered  for 
the  submission  of  a  practical  system  of  motive  power 
equal  or  superior  to  the  overhead  trolley.  Nothing 
practical  resulted  from  this  offer,  and  early  in  1894  the 
Company  proceeded  to  adapt  to  its  uses  a  conduit  system 
similar  to  that  which  liad  been  in  use  in  Buda-Pesth  for 
several  years.  The  Leno.x  Avenue  line  in  Harlem, 
three  miles  in  length,  designed  as  a  continuation  of  the 
new  cable  lines  on  either  side  of  Central  Park,  was 
selected  for  the  experiment,  which  was  conducted  on 
the  most  conservative  lines.  In  order  to  reduce  to  a 
minimum  the  chances  of  failure,  the  construction  was 
planned  as  for  a  cable  road  so  that,  should  the  electric 
system  prove  unsatisfactory,  the  cable  could  be  substi- 
tuted. In  July,  1895,  the  road  was  opened  for  service 
and  proved  so  efficient,  reliable  and  economical  in  opera- 
tion that  the  extension  of  the  electric  conduit  system 
was  decided  on,  not  only  for  all  new  lines,  but  for  the 
ultimate  displacement  of  the  cable,  over  which  it 
showed  an  economy  in  operation  of  at  least  five  cents 
per  car  mile. 

The  problem  of  providing  a  system  as  low  in  cost  of 
construction  as  the  overhead  trolley,  and  which  could  be 
applied  with  profit  to  all  the  many  miles  of  horse  car 
lines,  had  not  yet  been  solved,  and  experimental  work 
costing  large  amounts  continued  to  be  made  for  several 
years.     A   surface  contact   system   was  tried   and   found 


Electrical    Handbook  i^i 

wanting.  Compressed  air  seemed  to  offer  greater  possi- 
bilities than  any  other  self-contained  motor,  and  after 
several  preliminary  trials  the  28th  and  20th  Streets  line 
was  selected  for  a  test  of  that  power,  and,  in  August, 
1899,  was  completely  equipped  and  opened  for  opera- 
tion. A  large  compressing  and  storage  plant  with  a 
i,ooo-H.P.  direct-driven,  four-stage  compressor,  capable 
of  compressing  to  2,400  pounds  to  the  square  inch, 
and  with  a  capacity  of  eighty  cars,  was  built.  The 
results  extending  over  nearly  two  years  and  under  close 
observation  were  very  unsatisfactory,  and  in  April,  igoi, 
following  a  succession  of  failures,  accidents,  irregulari- 
ties in  service  and  general  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of 
the  public  and  the  city  authorities,  the  air  car  service  was 
withdrawn  and  horses  restored. 

An  experimental  trial  quite  as  thorough  and  exten- 
sive, and  more  satisfactory  in  result  was  made  of  the 
chloride  storage  battery.  In  August,  1900,  a  large  bat- 
tery station  with  a  capacity  of  fift)^  cars  was  estab- 
lished at  the  foot  of  West  42nd  Street  for  the  operation 
of  the  34th  Street  line,  and  from  that  time  until  Sep- 
tember, 1903,  the  line  was  operated  by  the  storage  bat- 
tery cars  without  serious  trouble  or  interruption.  Fail- 
ures were  frequent,  however,  discomfort  was  occasioned 
by  the  fuming  of  the  batteries,  and  the  cost  of  operation 
was  very  high,  so  that,  during  the  summer  of  1903,  the 
conduit  construction  was  installed,  the  traffic  of  the  line 
having  increased  to  such  an  extent  as  to  warrant  the 
improvement. 

PERMANENT  WAY  AND  SUBSTRUCTURE 

As  stated  above,  the  installation  of  the  conduit 
system  on  Manhattan  Island  was  begun  in  1895.  Ad- 
ditions have  been  made  to  the  mileage  so  constructed 
each  year,  until  at  the  present  time  there  are  two 
hundred  miles  of  track  so  equipped. 

The  system  is  known  as  a  double  conductor  system 
with  metallic  return  circuit,  and  no  use  is  made  of  the 
tram  rails  for  returning  current  to  the  power  stations, 
and    was    adopted    in    practically    its    present    form,    no 


T^2  The    X  c  tc    }'  0  r  k 

changes  worthy  of  note  having  been  found  desirable 
beyond  the  strengthening  of  all  the  component  parts 
of  the  plow. 

This  form  of  construction  has  both  advantages  and 
disadvantages,  as  compared  with  the  overhead  trolley 
system.  AH  the  construction  being  underground,  the 
feeder  wires  and  electric  conductors  are  protected  from 
damage  by  wind  and  weather,  and  the  expense  of  main- 
tenance of  the  electric  conductors  is  somewhat  reduced 
as  compared  with  the  overhead  trollej^  system.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  cleaning  of  dirt  from  the  conduits  and 
the  manholes  is  an  added  expense,  while  the  presence 
of  the  centre  slot  complicates  the  construction  of  special 
track  work  and  increases  the  expense  of  its  installation 
and  maintenance. 

The  absence  of  poles  and  overhead  wires,  always 
more  or  less  unsighth'.  is  a  distinct  advantage  from  an 
aesthetic  point  of  view,  while  possible  danger  to  the 
public  from  falling  wires  is  avoided. 

Proper  drainage  of  the  conduit  and  manholes  is  ob- 
tained by  connecting  each  manhole  with  the  street  sewer 
by  a  six-inch  pipe.  These  manholes  being  only  about 
one  hundred  feet  apart,  this  provision  easily  takes  care 
of  the  surface  water  which  may  find  its  way  into  the 
conduit  through  the  slot.  Reference  to  the  cuts 
gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  arrangement  of  the  conduits 
and  their  position  with  reference  to  the  surface  of  the 
street. 

The  conduits  are  cleaned  by  drawing  through  them 
a  scraper,  which  conforms  to  the  cross-section  of  the 
conduit,  and  which  is  carried  by  a  car  running  on  the 
track  above.  This  scrapes  such  dirt  as  may  have  fallen 
through  the  slot  along  the  conduit,  depositing  it  in  the 
handholes  and  manholes,  from  which  it  is  afterwards 
removed  by  the  cleaning  gang  and  taken  to  the  city 
dumping  places. 

There  are  at  present  about  i6o  men  engaged  solely  in 
this  work  of  keeping  the  underground  construction  free 
from  dirt.  Such  cleaning  of  the  conduit  costs  about 
$500  a  year  per  mile  of  conduit. 


Electrical    Handbook  /jj 


/?-/  T  h  c    X  czv    York 

At  certain  places  on  several  of  the  lines  the  level  of 
the  conduit  is  so  low  that  at  extreme  high  tide  the  con- 
ductor bars  are  covered  with  water  and  the  operation 
t)l  the  cars  over  that  part  of  the  line  is  necessarily  sus- 
pended until  the  water  level  recedes.  This  sometimes 
happens  during  very  heavy  rains,  when  the  city  sewers 
in  certain  locations  are  not  sufficient  to  take  the  surface 
water  away  from  the  streets  as  fast  as  it  falls.  This 
occurs  perhaps  once  or  twice  a  year. 

Considerable  trouble  has  been  e.xpcrienced  during 
severe  winters,  like  the  last,  because  ice  and  snow  col- 
lects in  the  conduit  and  manholes  and  in  handholes 
around  the  insulators.  This  trouble  is  especially  severe 
when  the  snow  and  ice  is  frozen  in  the  handholes,  and 
manifests  itself  in  broken  rail  brackets,  grounded  insula- 
tors and  a  variety  of  other  ways. 

The  Company's  facilities  and  the  construction  of 
the  conduit  are  such  that  any  ordinary  snow  fall  up  to 
ten  or  twelve  inches  in  depth  can  be  easih'  handled, 
and  experience  shows  that  the  conduit  system  is  fully 
as  reliable  in  its  operation  as  the  overhead  system. 

The  pavement  used  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan 
in  connection  with  the  reconstruction  of  the  electric 
lines  is  largely  asphalt.  Some  granite  block  pavement 
is  in  use.  and  a  little  wooden  block  pavement.  From  the 
standpoint  of  the  operating  Company,  the  granite  block 
or  the  wooden  block  pavement  is  to  be  preferred  to 
asphalt,  as  either  of  these  pavements  can  be  more  easily 
maintained  in  good  condition  along  and  between  the 
rails  than  can  the  asphalt,  which  quickly  cuts  out  leav- 
ing the  street  surface  in  a  very  undesirable  condition. 

The  construction  of  this  style  of  conduit  trolley  road 
in  New  York  City  streets  is  quite  difficult,  for  many 
reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  the  volume  of  street  traffic  on 
nearly  all  the  lines  which  have  been  constructed  is 
large,  especially  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  city,  and.  in 
addition  to  provision  for  maintaining  the  operation  of 
the  horse  cars  until  the  electric  cars  are  readv  for  busi- 


Electrical    Handbook  755 


7j?d  The    X  c  zi'    York 

ness,  arrangements  must  be  made  for  the  continuance 
at  all  times  of  the  ordinary  street  traffic. 

Furthermore,  in  any  street  in  New  York,  the  surface 
having  been  removed,  one  encounters  divers  obstacles  in 
the  shape  of  gas  pipes,  water  pipes  and  electric  conduc- 
tors, laced  and  interlaced,  over  the  entire  street,  and  so 
near  the  surface  that  a  rearrangement  of  many,  if  not 
all,  of  these  structures  is  necessary  in  order  that  a  free 
passage  for  the  conduit  construction  may  be  pro- 
vided. 

The  cost  of  construction  of  conduit  roads,  as  com- 
pared with  the  track  and  special  work  required  with 
overhead  trolley  lines,  is  very  much  in  favor  of  the 
latter.  In  fact,  the  average  cost  of  conduit  construction 
per  mile  of  single  track  in  New  York  City  is  somewhat 
above  $100,000  per  mile ;  while  the  cost  of  special  work 
at  intersections,  etc.,  is  probably  three  times  what  it 
would  be  for  use  with  the  overhead  trolley.  The  reason 
for  this  is  found  in  the  slotted  construction  necessary  to 
provide  access  to  the  conduit.  The  life  and  the  ex- 
pense of  maintenance  of  the  straight  track  conduit  con- 
struction does  not  appreciably  diflfer  from  that  of  the 
overhead  trolley  construction,  but  the  life  of  the  special 
work  does  not  average  on  the  system  of  the  New  York 
City  Railway  Company  more  than  five  or  six  years,  and 
the  depreciation  charged  to  maintenance  is  correspond- 
ingly high. 

In  general,  the  methods  pursued  in  the  conversion 
of  the  horsecar  lines  to  electric  lines  have  been,  first, 
to  provide  for  the  continuance  of  the  operation  of  the 
horsecars  during  the  electric  construction,  either  by 
laying  a  side  track  along  the  whole  length  of  the  line  to 
be  constructed,  and  operating  the  horsecars  on  this  side 
track  and  on  one  of  the  main  tracks  while  the  other 
main  track  is  being  built,  or  else  to  remove  the  horse 
cars  entirely  to  a  line  in  some  parallel  street  while  the 
work  of  reconstruction  is  going  on. 

The  necessary  excavation  is  then  made  as  deep  as  is 
required  for  the  yokes  and  conduit  of  the  new  construc- 
tion.    This  e.xposes  such  water  pipes,  gas  pipes,  electric 


Electrical    Handbook  i^y 


n8  The    Xciv    York 

conductors,  etc.,  as  may  intercfere  with  construction. 
Such  pipes  are  then  moved  to  positions  where  they  will 
not  interefere  with  the  construction. 

Then  the  iron  yokes,  steel  rails,  etc.,  used  in  the 
construction  are  put  in  place  and  bolted  up  and  the  track 
lined  and  levelled  and  temporarily  supported,  while  Port- 
land cement  concrete  is  rammed  beneath  and  around  the 
yokes  supporting  them  and  forming  the  conduit,  which 
later  will  contain  the  electric  conductors.  At  the  same 
time,  the  terra  cotta  ducts  for  containing  the  electric 
cables  are  put  in  place,  and  lastly  the  pavement — asphalt 
or  granite  blocks — is  put  in  place  and  the  construction  is 
read}'  for  the  electric  conductors,  the  installation  of 
which  is  the  last  phase  of  the  construction. 

The  conversion  of  the  cable  lines  to  electric  lines  was 
done  in  substantial^^  this  manner,  except  that  it 
was  necessarj^  to  keep  the  cable  cars  in  continuous 
operation  while  the  change  was  being  made.  This  was 
done  in  such  a  manner  that  when  the  time  came  for 
the  final  change  from  cable  power  to  electric  power,  the 
operation  of  the  Broadway  line  was  discontinued  at 
nine  o'clock  on  Saturday  night,  and  on  Sunday  after- 
noon at  five  o'clock  the  operation  of  electric  cars  was 
begun.  The  same  method  was  pursued  on  the  other 
cable  lines  as  upon  the  Broadway  line. 

The  miles  of  electric  conduit  road  constructed  by  the 
Company  in  1897  and  yearly  thereafter  to  date  is  given 
below ; 

1897 28  miles   single  track 

1898 62  do 

1899 44  do 

1900 4  do 

1901 33  do 

1902 14  do 

1903 15  do 

The  amount  of  special  track  work  at  intersection  of 
lines  and  crossovers,  etc..  in  the  City  of  New  York  is 
excessive,  as  compared  with  the  number  of  miles  of 
straight  track.  There  are  now  in  operation  about  twelve 
hundred    switches    on    two    hundred    miles    of    straight 


Electrical    Handbook 


139 


track.  These  switches  are  arranged  to  be  thrown  either 
by  switchmen  employed  for  that  purpose  or  by  jiiotor- 
men  or  conductors  on  the  cars. 


Ninety-Sixth  Street  Power  Station 

In  this  connection,  experiments  have  been  carried  on 
within  the  last  year  with  two  or  three  different  styles 
of  automatic  switches  which  are  thrown  electrically  and 
governed  by  the  motorman  of  the  car  approaching  the 


140 


T  h  c    \  c  IV    ]^  o  r  k 


switch.     These  experiments  have  been  quite  successful 
and   will   doubtless   result   in  the  installation  of  quite  a 

nunil>cr  of  these  switches. 


Z 

o 

< 

tn 

(r 

UJ 

o 

CL 

CO 

JE« 
(O 


< 
-J 

Q. 

-J 
< 

tr. 

UJ 

z 
u 
o 


POWER 


A  glance  at  the  map  showing  the  electrically  equipped 
surface  lines  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan  shows  how 
difficult  and  costly  would  be  the  task  of  supplying  the 
electric  current  to  operate  all  these  lines  from  direct 
current  power  stations.  A  careful  study  of  the  condi- 
tions led  to  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  the  central  gen- 


Electrical    Handbook  141 

erating  station  transmitting  alternating  current  at  high 
voltage  to  substations  located  at  dififerent  points  through- 
out the  city,  where  the  high  tension  alternating  current  is 
transformed  to  low  tension  direct  current  and  distrib- 
uted to  the  cars  throughout  the  limited  area  covered  by 
each  substation. 

This  general  plan  has  been  carried  out  with  slight 
modification,  and  the  New  York  City  Railway  Company 
has  on  JNIanhattan  Island  to-day  two  generating  sta- 
tions, each  generating  current  at  6,600  volts  and  trans- 
mitting it  to  various  substations  not  only  on  Manhattan 
Island,  but  also  in  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx  and  in  the 
cities  of  Yonkers  and   Mt.   Vernon. 

One  of  these  generating  stations  is  located  at  Q6th 
Street  and  the  East  River;  the  other  at  218th  Street  and 
the   Harlem  River. 

The  96th  Street  Power  Station  of  the  Company  was 
the  first  of  the  several  large  polyphase  power  generating 
stations  to  be  erected  and  operated  in  the  City  of  New 
York.  Construction  was  begun  on  foundations  in  1897, 
and  in  August,  iSgg,  the  first  unit  was  put  in  operation. 

The  station  contains  eleven  3,500  k.w  generating 
units.  The  current  generated  is  three-phase,  twenty- 
five  cycle,  6,600  volts,  and  is  distributed  at  that  pressure 
to  seven  substations  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan. 

The  electric  generators  are  driven  by  vertical  cross- 
compound  condensing  engines  directly  connected  to  the 
generators.  Surface  condensers  are  used  for  each  en- 
gine, and  all  station  auxiliaries  are  steam  driven. 

Steam  is  furnished  to  the  engines  by  eighty  boilers 
of  the  inclined  water  tube  type.  These  boilers  are  ar- 
ranged on  the  first,  second  and  third  floors  of  the  boiler 
house.  They  are  set  in  batteries  of  two,  each  battery 
being  rated  at  500  H.P.  nominal. 

The  coal  is  taken  from  the  boats  by  steam  shovel  and 
automatic  conveyors  to  the  coal  bunkers,  which  are 
located  just  under  the  roof  of  the  boiler  house,  and 
which  have  a  capacity  of  9,000  tons.  From  the  bunkers 
the  coal   descends  by  gravity  to  the   automatic  stokers, 


14^ 


The    N  c  IV    York 


with  which  all  the  boilers  are  equipped,  and  by  them  is 
fed  directly  to  the  fires. 

The  output  of  this  station  has  been  in  times  of  heavi- 


H  !fl  i  !.n-4HiC|!  j..!  ,,  !,i  !  ^^n 


M=E 


IE 


IZZLJ 


^ZJT-C 


1     il  -     r=:  -■    ;  :■    1 


I 


-,ssf:T:trr*t:rrtri: 


!    i 


'.it        1 


action  Engine  Room  96th  Street  Power  Station 


est  load — which  occurs  about  Christmas — as  high  as 
575.000  kilowatt  hours  per  day.  The  output  during  the 
maximum  hour  of  the  day  has  frequently  gone  as  high  as 
36,000  kilowatts,  or  about  the  nominal  load  for  the 
eleven  generating  units. 


Electrical    Handbook 


148 


A  typical  load  curve  of  this  power  station  is  shown 
in  the  cut.  The  load  factor  of  the  station,  of  course, 
varies  somewhat  with  the  season  of  the  year,  varying 
from  sixty  per  cent,  to  sixty-six  per  cent. 

The  coal  consumption  at  this  power  station  is  about 


two  and  eight-tenths  pounds  of  coal  per  kilowatt.  The 
coal  consumption  for  the  maximum  output  above  men- 
tioned would,  therefore,  be  about  718  tons  per  day.  The 
total  output  of  the  station  for  the  year  ending  December 
31  last  amounted  to  over  149,000,000  k.w.h. 

In   order  to   ensure  continuity  of   operation,   and   to 


144 


T  h  c    X  c  ti'    Y  o  r  k 


provide  as  far  as  possible  against  interruption  due  to 
disabling  of  any  piece  of  apparatus,  the  station  is  ar- 
ranged so  that   it  can  be  operated  as  three  independent 


I  cTi""     '  '  ■   '    ' 


•ri"«jiil 


Sectit)n   IJoiler  Room  96th   Street  Power  Station 


stations  if  desired.  It  has  not  been  foiuul  necessary  to 
make  this  subdivision,  however,  and  the  station  has  thus 
far  been  operated  as  one  unit.  In  the  la.st  four  years 
of  operation   there   have  been  but  two  interruptions  to 


Electrical    Handbook 


145 


1^6  T  h  c    X  c  li'    Y  o  r  k 

the  steady  delivery  of  electric  current  from  this  power 
station,  and  in  both  of  these  instances  the  trouble  was 
due  to  causes  outside  of  the  power  station  itself. 

A  reference  to  the  several  cuts  of  this  power  station 
shows  how  very  compact  is  the  arrangement  of  the 
machinery.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  ground  space  re- 
quired per  k.w.  of  capacity  in  the  96th  Street  Power 
House  is  1.24  sq.  ft.  for  boiler  and  engine  rooms  to- 
gether. Of  this  .68  sq.  ft.  is  in  the  engine  rooms,  and 
.56  sq.  ft.  in  the  boiler  room. 

The  Kingsbridge  Power  Station,  situated  at  218th 
Street  and  the  Harlem  River,  supplies  current  to  the 
two  northern  substations  on  ^Manhattan  Island;  to  the 
Borough  of  the  Bronx,  as  before  stated,  and  to  the  sub- 
stations at  Mt.  Vernon  and  Yonkers. 

The  Kingsbridge  Power  Station  has  only  recently 
been  finished,  the  first  unit  having  been  put  in  operation 
less  than  one  year  ago. 

In  arrangement  this  station  follows  the  same  general 
plan  as  the  96th  Street  Power  Station.  The  electric 
units  are  of  the  same  size,  3,500  k.w.  each,  and  generating 
three-phase  current  at  twenty-five  cycles  and  6,600  volts. 

The  generating  units  are  eight  in  number  and  are 
driven  by  vertical  cross-compound  condensing  engines 
directly  connected  to  the  generators. 

The  steam  is  supplied  by  water  tube  boilers  of  the 
inclined  tube  type.  These  boilers,  thirty-two  in  num- 
ber, are  arranged  on  the  first  and  second  floors  of  the 
boiler  house  and  are  set  in  batteries  of  1,000  H.P.  each. 

The  coal  bunkers  are  in  the  top  of  the  boiler  room, 
the  coal  being  delivered  to  them  by  conveyors  and  fed 
from  the  bunkers  by  gravity  to  the  automatic  stokers 
with  which  the  boilers  are  equipped. 

The  condensing  plant  of  this  station  is  of  the  type 
known  as  the  central  jet  condensing,  and  is  arranged  in 
duplicate,  as  are  all  of  the  station  auxiliaries.  All  auxil- 
iaries are  steam  driven. 

This  station  is  not  at  present,  and  never  has  been, 
fully  loaded.  The  space  required  per  k.w.  of  capacity 
in  this  station  is  1.16  sq.  ft.  for  boiler  and  engine  rooms 


Electrical    Handbook  i^y 


148  The    X  c  IV    York 

together.  Of  this  .58  sq.  ft.  is  in  the  engine  room  and 
.58  sq.  ft.  in  the  boiler  room. 

In  the  Kingsbridgc  Power  Station,  as  well  as  the 
96th  Street  Power  Station,  the  arrangement  of  the  ap- 
paratus is  such  that  they  are  practically  several  power 
stations  under  one  roof.  This  subdivision  holds  from 
boiler  room  to  switchboard.  While  the  separation  ot 
the  various  groups  of  apparatus  in  the  power  house  may 
be  complete,  if  necessary,  in  ordinar}-  operation  all  are 
connected  together. 

In  these  two  power  houses  the  Railway  Company 
has  ample  power  provision  for  any  possible  requirements 
for  several  years  to  come. 

The  mechanical  force  in  the  power  stations  is  directly 
in  charge  of  the  Mechanical  Engineer  of  the  Company, 
and  the  electrical  force  is  in  charge  of  the  Electrical 
Engineer;  both  of  whom  report  to  the  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Company. 

Each  power  station  has  a  First,  Second  and  Third 
Assistant  Engineer,  who  stand  watches  of  eight  hours 
each,  and  are  in  direct  charge  of  the  operation  of  the 
power  house  during  the  eight  hours.  Under  them  are 
watch  engineers,  oilers,  pump  men,  stokers,  coal  passers, 
water  tenders,  and  so  on;  all  working  in  eight-hour 
shifts. 

The  high  tension  feeders  laid  from  the  power  sta- 
tions to  the  substations  are  arranged  in  groups  so  that 
no  substation  is  dependent  upon  current  from  any  one 
feeder,  as  there  are  always  several  feeders  connecting 
each  substation  with  the  power  house.  These  feeders 
take  different  routes  through  the  streets  and,  entering 
the  power  house  from  different  directions,  terminate  in 
•different  sections  of  the  feeder  J),^r4j     . 

This  subdivision  of  the  power  station,  and  the  feeders 
therefrom,  provides  all  the  practical  advantages  of 
several  separate  power  stations.  Any  mechanical  or 
electrical  trouble  with  any  of  the  power-house  ap- 
paratus can  hardly  extend  further  than  the  group  in 
which  it  originates,  except  temporarily. 

The  possibility  of  fire  is  practically  eliminated  by  the 


Electrical    Handbook  14Q 


j§o  The    X  c  zi)    Y  0  r  k 

fireproof  construction  employed  throughout  the  power 
stations. 

The  coal  used  at  these  power  stations  is  partly  an- 
thracite, buckwheat  size,  approximately,  12,000  B.  T.  U.'s 
per  lb.,  and  partly  semi-bituminous  coal  having  a  heat- 
ing value  of  14,500  B.  T.  U.'s  per  lb. 

The  average  amount  of  water  evaporated  per  pound 
of  coal  throughout  the  twenty-four  hours,  as  measured 
by  water  meters,  is  about  eight  and  one-half  pounds. 
Water  required  per  kw.  hour  at  the  switchboard  is  about 
twenty-two  pounds,  including  all  the  auxiliaries  about 
the  power  station. 

The  cost  of  coal  is  sixtj--seven  per  cent.,  the  cost  of 
repairs  to  power  plant  is  seven  and  six-tenths  per  cent., 
and  the  cost  of  labor  is  nineteen  per  cent,  of  the  total 
operating  and  maintenance  cost ;  while  the  yearly  cost 
of  repairs  is  about  one  and  sixty-one-one  hundredths  per 
cent,  of  the  first  cost  of  the  plant. 

The  location  of  both  these  power  stations  on  the  river 
front  is  such  that  coal  is  delivered  to  them  directly  by 
boats  ensuring  a  proper  supply  of  fuel  at  the  lowest  pos- 
sible cost  for  handling,  and  ample  water  is  available  for 
condensing  purposes. 

The  substations  throughout  the  city  have  been  located 
on  property  owned  by  the  Company.  In  most  instances 
the  substation  building  is  part  of  a  car  house.  It  so 
happens  that  the  property  owned  by  the  Company  is  so 
situated  that  the  substations  are  not  far  removed  from 
their  theoretically  proper  positions. 

The  electrical  conductors  in  the  conduit  are  divided 
into  sections  isolated  from  each  other  so  that  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  electrical  grounds,  etc..  are  confined  to 
the  section  in  which  they  occur.  These  sections  ave- 
rage, approximately,  one-half  mile  lengths,  and  each 
has  its  own  set  of  feeders  leading  directly  to  it  from 
the  substation.  This  localizes  trouble  on  the  lines  and 
facilitates  quick  repairs. 

Switches  are  provided — located  in  suitable  boxes  in 
manholes — at  the  points  of  division  of  various  sections, 
so  that  in  case  feeder  trouble  should  temporarily  disable 


Electrical    Handbook  jji 

traffic  on  one  section,  power  can  be  quickly  furnished 
to  the  disabled  section  by  connecting  it  through  the 
switch  to  the  adjacent  section.  It  has  been  found  that 
this  provision  against  power  failure  is  so  effective  that 
delays  of  more  than  four  or  five  minutes  to  cars  through 
feeder  troubles  are  quite  rare. 

The  electrical  troubles  met  with  in  operating  this 
system  can  be  roughly  grouped  under  three  heads : 
Troubles  with  feeders  between  substations  and  conduc- 
tor bars ;  troubles  with  the  conductor  bars  themselves, 
and  troubles  with  electrical  equipment  of  cars. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  feeder  troubles  occur  at  the  man- 
holes and  are  due  to  some  mechanical  injury  to  the 
feeders  by  men  while  working  in  the  manholes,  or  by 
men  working  in  other  excavations  alongside  the  com- 
pany's duct  line.  It  sometimes  happens  that  in 
manholes  containing  a  great  many  feeders  a  feeder 
low  down  in  the  rack  may  short-circuit  or  ground 
to  the  lead  cover,  from  some  cause  or  other,  and 
burn  not  only  itself,  but  other  feeders  above  it  until 
every  feeder  in  the  manhole  is  more  or  less  dam- 
aged; the  attendant  at  the  substation  meanwhile 
knowing  nothing  of  all  this  until  advised  from  the 
outside  by  the  Inspector. 

Troubles  with  conductor  bars  come  mainly  from 
three  causes : 

1st.  Short-circuiting  of  plows  or  current  collectors 
carried  by  the  car.  When  this  occurs  the  conductor 
rails  are  burned  and  buckle  from  the  heat  developed  by 
the  burning  plow.  Such  rails  must  be  removed  and 
new  ones  put  in  their  places. 

2nd.  Troubles  due  to  accumulations  of  snow  or  ice 
in  the   conduit;   and 

3rd.  Troubles  caused  by  boys  putting  metallic  arti- 
cles, wire,  chain,  etc.,  through  the  slot  and  thereby  short- 
circuiting  the  conductor  bars. 

The  methods  of  prevention  of  troubles  from  the  last 
two-named  sources  are  obvious.  The  trouble  from 
the  first  cause  can  never  be  entirelj-  prevented,  but 
only  mitigated. 


T  Ji  c    N  e  IV    York 


'^•y  .:;JtA-f^!. 


Electrical    Handbook  i^j 

For  the  proper  care  of  the  feeders  and  electric  con- 
ductors in  the  conduit  the  city  is  divided  into  eight 
sections,  and  all  the  cable  and  electric  conductors  in  each 
section  are  in  the  charge  of  a  section  foreman  who  has 
a  force  of  men  under  his  control  and  who  is  responsible 
directly  to  the  Superintendent  of  Lines  and  Feeders  for 
the  condition  of  the  electric  cables  and  conductor  bars 
in  his  section,  and  for  the  proper  handling  of  his  men. 
The  Superintendent  of  Lines  and  Feeders  reports  di- 
rectly to  the  Electrical  Engineer. 

ROLLING  STOCK 

The  car  equipment  in  use  on  the  ^Metropolitan 
system  cannot  be  described  without,  as  in  the  de- 
scription of  other  features  of  the  system,  referring 
to  the  history  of  the  past  eleven  years  with  its  evo- 
lutions from  horse  to  cable  and  cable  to  electric 
power. 

The  first  cable  cars,  built  in  1893  for  the  Broadway 
Road,  were  twenty-two  feet  in  body,  thirty  feet  six 
inches  over  all,  on  a  four-wheel  rigid  truck.  These 
cars  were  all  converted  to  electrics  in  1901,  when  the 
power  was  changed  on  Broadway  and  Lexington  Ave- 
nue and  Columbus  Avenue,  and  are  in  use  in  various 
parts  of  the  system.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
cable  cars  belonging  to  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad 
Company,  which  came  into  the  system  with  the  lease 
of  that  road  in  1900.  The  first  electric  cars  built  as 
such  for  the  experimental  road  on  Lenox  Avenue  in 
1895  were  of  the  same  size,  equipped  with  the  same 
truck  and  driven  by  two  G.  E.  800  motors.  From  these 
three  sources  came  most  of  the  "short"  cars  found  on 
the  system.  With  the  definite  adoption  of  the  electric 
conduit  system  in  1898,  the  double-truck  car,  twenty- 
eight  feet  in  body  and  thirty-six  feet  over  all,  mounted 
on  "maximum  traction"  trucks,  became  the  standard, 
being,  at  that  time,  a  distinct  departure  from  the  pre- 
vailing practice.  The  object  sought  in  the  design  was 
to  obtain  the  largest  unit  that  could  be  handled  by  two 
men    and    propelled    by    two    motors,    with    the    largest 


J5^ 


The    New    York 


f 


Electrical    Handbook  i^^ 

possible  seating  capacity  consistent  with  rapid  ingress 
and  egress.  Limits  on  the  size  of  this  car  were  also 
set  by  the  heavy  trucking  along  New  York  streets,  by 
the  narrowness  of  these  streets,  by  the  sharp  curves, 
which  are  in  many  places  unavoidable,  and  by  the  Ele- 
vated Railroad  pillars  which  are  oftentimes  badly  placed 
with  reference  to  these  curves.  Even  where  there  are 
few  difficulties  of  this  kind  in  the  large  north  and  south 
avenues,  there  is  sometimes  a  limit  to  the  width  and 
length  on  account  of  the  narrowness  of  a  few  cross 
streets  through  which  the  line  in  some  part  of  its  route 
is  obliged  to  pass. 

In  the  early  days  of  mechanical  traction  in  New 
York  the  open  car  was  not  used  through  fear  of 
accidents  to  passengers  from  passing  vehicles,  but 
the  demand  from  the  public  became  so  pressing  that 
it  was  finally  acceded  to  and  the  open  car  proved 
exceedingly  popular.  A  large  number  are  in  serv- 
ice on  all  the  longitudinal  lines.  By  the  use  of 
the  side  bar  and  strict  prohibition  of  any  standing 
on  the  foot-board  the  excessive  danger  predicted 
has  not  been  realized,  though  the  accident  record 
is  in  favor  of  the  closed  car.  So  popular  are  the  open 
cars  in  bright,  warm  weather,  that  closed  cars  operated 
on  the  same  line  with  them  pass  practically  empty,  while 
the  open  cars  are  crowded.  To  meet  this  demand  and, 
at  the  same  time  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Health  Department,  which  call  for  one  closed  car  in 
ever}'  five  cars  operated,  a  combination  open  and  closed 
car,  seating  thirty-five  passengers  in  the  open  part  and 
sixteen  in  the  closed  compartment,  was  adopted  and  is 
in  use  on  most  of  the  longitudinal  lines.  This  particular 
type  has,  however,  proved  objectionable  in  some  re- 
spects and  is  not  being  included  in  current  orders  for 
new  equipment. 

The  plow  or  underground  trolley  is  confined  to  New 
York  and  Washington  among  American  cities.  The  cast 
iron  shoes  used  in  the  plow  last  from  ten  days  to  two 
weeks.  At  the  line  of  the  slot-rails  there  are  inserted 
in  the  main  plate  two  hardened  steel  clips  called  wear- 


L5^ 


T  h  c    N  e  zu    York 


Electrical    Handbook  i^j 

ing  plates,  which  are  renewed  as  often  as  necessary. 
The  body  of  the  plow  which  passes  through  the  slot  is 
composed  of  three  pieces  of  sheet  steel,  with  spaces  be- 
tween them  for  the  flat  insulated  wire  to  run  down  to 
the  contact  shoes.  The  latter  are  fastened  directly  on 
springs,  and  two  flexible  conductors  run  to  each  shoe  to 
avoid  trouble  from  the  breakage  of  one.  The  lower 
part  of  the  plow  is  entirely  of  wood,  with  the  exception 
of  the  contact  shoes,  springs  and  iron  for  spring  support. 
The  cars  of  the  Metropolitan  System  are  housed  in 
eighteen  houses,  as  shown  below.  The  number  of  cars 
shown  as  operated  from  each  house  is  the  maximum 
kept  ready  to  be  sent  out  at  the  rush  hour.  The  number 
shown  as  stored  is  the  total  capacity  of  all  floors  of  the 
house. 

Operated.      Stored. 

2i8th  St.  and  Tenth  Ave 150 

I52d  St.  and  Eighth  Ave 24 

146th  St.  and  Lenox  Ave 220  410 

129th  St.  and  Amsterdam  Ave.  .     68  68 

129th  St.  and  Third  Ave 132  297 

99th  St.  and  Lexington  Ave.  . .  .   189  264 

96th  St.  and  Second  Ave 190  390 

86th  St.  and  Madison  Ave tz  li 

65th  St.  and  Third  Ave  102  148 

S4th  St.  and  Tenth  Ave 83  83 

53d  St.  and  Ninth  Ave 155  155 

50th  St.  and  Eighth  Ave 67  67 

50th  St.  and  Seventh  Ave 184  184 

50th  St.  and  Sixth  Ave 134  388 

42d  St.  and  North  River 52  65 

32d  St.  and  Fourth  Ave "JZ  73 

23d  St.  and  Eleventh  Ave.  ...     55  55 

14th  St.  and  Avenue  B 120  184 

1,897  3,078 

At  all  of  these  houses,  except  i52d  Street  and  218th 
Street,  which  are  used  only  for  the  storage  of  cars  out 
of  season,  the  ordinary  routine  of  inspection  and  run- 
ning repairs  is  carried  on.     Every  car  is  given  a  general 


138 


The    N  c  -a'    Y  o  r  k 


Electrical    Handbook 


159 


inspection  each  night.  As  far  as  possible  this  takes 
place  as  the  car  is  run  into  the  house.  It  is  first  run 
over  the  inspection  pit  and,  if  found  all  right,  is  run 
back  to  a  storage  track ;  otherwise  it  is  sent  to  one  of 
the  repair  pits. 


When  cars  come  in  very  rapidly,  it  is  frequently 
necessary  to  set  some  of  them  aside  to  give  the  men  time 
for  inspection.  The  latter  consists  in  examining  the 
wearing  plates,  springs  and  shoes  of  the  plow,  washing 
the  plow  bar  with  kerosene  and  greasing  it.  examining 


i6o  T  h  c    N  CIV    York 

the  motors  for  loose  bolts  and  hot  boxes  and  the  cars 
for  damaged  wheels,  defective  gong  or  loose  truck  bolts. 
An  inspection  pit  is  the  length  of  one  car,  five  feet  deep 
in  the  clear,  and  its  "crew"  is  three  men.  No  repair 
work  is  done  there.  Every  two  months  cars  are  taken 
in  for  general  overhauling.  At  this  time  the  armature 
bearings  are  usually  renewed  and  sometimes  the  axle 
bearings. 

All  overhauling  and  inspection  in  car  houses  is  done 
in  the  repair  pit.  Wheels  are  also  renewed  from  below 
and  car-bodies  are  never  lifted  off  single  trucks.  They 
are  somtimes  raised  up  from  "maximum  traction"  trucks. 
The  pits  for  wheel  renewal  lie  at  right  angles  to  the 
regular  repair  pit.  The  track  has  removable  sections 
and  the  wheels  are  taken  out  by  a  jack  supported  on  a 
truck.  All  repair  pits  are  equipped  with  hydraulic  jacks. 
Armatures,  fields,  plows  and  controllers  requiring 
repairs  are  collected  from  the  car  houses  in  a  freight 
car  equipped  with  a  crane  and  sent  to  the  electrical  re- 
pair shop,  where  a  sufficient  force  of  men  is  maintained 
to  make  all  such  repairs  for  the  entire  system. 

The  location  of  the  car  houses  with  respect  to  the 
operation  of  the  lines  shows  a  considerable  variation  in 
practice  which  may  excite  comment.  They  are  in  most 
cases  legacies  from  the  old  horse  car  lines,  and  in  very 
few  instances  has  any  site  been  selected  solely  because 
of  its  strategic  value  from  an  operating  standpoint. 
Nevertheless,  as  in  the  case  of  the  substations,  the  loca- 
tion of  many  could  hardly  be  improved  on  and  few  are 
really  disadvantageous.  Many  of  these  pieces  of  prop- 
erty are  encumbered  in  such  a  way  that  they  must  be 
retained.  Others  are  occupied  temporarily  pending 
the  completion  of  the  program  of  reconstruction, 
when  they  will  become  unnecessary  and  may  be 
sold. 

At  the  present  time  the  total  passenger  equipment  of 
the  New  York  City  Railway  Company  consists  of  about 
3,000  passenger  cars.  In  addition  to  this  there  are 
thirty  express  cars,  ten  snow  plows,  eighty-six  sweepers 


Electrical    Handbook  i6i 

and  twenty-five  miscellaneous  cars.  Of  these  there  are 
only  thirty  having  four-motor  equipments. 

The  cars  are  geared  to  run  at  a  schedule  speed  of 
about  twelve  miles  per  hour,  this  involving  a  maximum 
speed  at  times  as  high  as  sixteen  miles  per  hour,  which 
is  perfectly  feasible  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  In 
the  lower  part  of  the  city  the  speed  frequently  falls  to 
eight  miles  per  hour,  or  even  lower. 

Owing  to  the  exceedingly  heavy  service  on  the 
longitudinal  lines,  with  the  frequent  accelerations  nec- 
essary, the  consumption  of  electric  current  per  car  mile 
is  unusually  high,  two  and  seven-tenths  kilowatt  hours 
per  car  mile,  and  demands  on  the  motor  equipment 
severe,  with  the  result  that  the  life  of  motors,  controllers, 
plows,  etc.,  is  comparatively  short. 

TRANSPORTATION 

The  car  service  is,  of  course,  the  feature  of  controlling 
importance  for  any  street  railway,  and  all  the  operations 
of  the  Metropolitan  system  are  contributory  to  the 
regularity  and  promptness  of  this  service  and  to  the 
comfort  and  safety  of  passengers.  As  to  the  immediate 
agencies  for  obtaining  this  regularity,  the  time  table,  as 
used  on  the  IMetropolitan  system,  is  merely  a  schedule 
of  the  starting  times  of  the  regular  ''runs"  or  crews  from 
the  terminal.  Running  times  between  certains  points 
are  given  for  information,  especially  when  the  cars  are 
on  long  headway,  but,  as  a  rule,  once  out  on  the  road, 
the  headways  is  governed  bj'  the  distance  from  the 
leader,  and,  where  the  vehicle  traffic  is  not  seriously  con- 
gested, depends  largel}^  on  the  efficiency  of  the  crews  in 
avoiding  and  overcoming  delays.  In  this  they  are 
closely  watched  and  checked  by  uniformed  inspectors 
stationed  along  the  lines,  each  having  a  district  assigned 
him,  its  length  varying  with  the  local  conditions.  When 
gaps  occur  in  the  service  they  are  filled  by  "extra"  cars 
run  out  from  the  nearest  car  house  by  the  Starter  in 
charge,  or  by  the  "switching  back,"  under  orders  of  an 
inspector,  of  cars  from  the  opposite  track.  The  trans- 
portation service  of  each  line  or  division  is  in  charge  of 


l62 


The    N  c  IV    York 


a  General  Foreman.  He  is  freed  as  far  as  possible  from 
office  duties  and  spends  much  of  his  time  on  the  street, 
becomes  very  familiar  with  the  variations  and  needs  of 
the  traffic,  and,  where  the  time  table  does  not  furnish  a 
sufficient  supply  of  cars,  arranges  for  extra  service  to 
fill  the  shortage.  He  assigns,  instructs  and  disciplines 
the  men  who  are  sent  to  him   from  the   School   of  In- 


Scheme  of  Organization  of  Tlie  New  York  City  Railway  Co. 


struction,  and  is  assisted  in  these  duties  by  the  Inspectors 
and  Starters,  the  former  being  especially  road  men,  while 
the  latter  are  stationed  at  car  houses  and  terminals  to 
assign  the  men.  fill  vacancies  an  I  act  as  despatchers 
generally. 

The  system  is  divided  into  two  districts,  eastern 
and  western,  each  in  charge  of  a  superintendent,  to 
whrim    all    the    general    foremen    of    the    lines    in    his 


Electrical    Handbook  i6^ 

district  report.  The  special  object  of  this  office 
is  to  harmonize  the  service  on  adjacent  lines  and 
at  terminals  and  prevent  the  irregularities  that  arise 
where  conflicting  authorities  come  in  contact.  These 
superintendents  report  to  the  Superintendent  of  Trans- 
portation, who  is  in  general  control  of  the  whole  ser- 
vice. 

The  task  the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  organiza- 
tion performs  is  the  transportation  of  upward  of  a 
million  and  a  half  passengers  daily  throughout  the  year. 
The  accompanying  chart,  showing  graphically'  a 
day's  traffic  on  one  of  the  important  lines,  and  the 
following  statistics  of  traffic  of  an  average  week 
day  in  a  moderately  busy  season  will  show  in  a  general 
way  how  the  travel  is  distributed : 

TRAFFIC  — ^lETROPOLITAX      STREET      RAIL- 
WAY   SYSTEM— DECEMBER    17.    1902. 

Date  of  record,  Dec.  17,  1902. 
Total     passengers,     includings     transfers,     on 

system    1,625.127 

Passengers  by  lines — North  and  South  : 

East   Side   lines    579-092 

West  Side  lines   644,079 

1.223,171 

Passengers  by  crosstown  lines.  East  and  West.  401.956 
Estimated    number    of    passengers    North    in 

maximum  hour   69.OCO 

Estimated    number    of    passengers     South    in 

maximum  hour  51,000 

Estimated     number     of     passengers     East     in 

maximum    hour    19,000 

Estimated     number     of     passengers     West     in 

maximum    hour    20.000 

Maximum  hour  on  the  average  day 5-6  P-  ^I- 

Estimated    percentage    of    total    twenty-four    hour 

traffic  handle  in  five  busy  hours,  7  to  10  A.  M. 

and  5  to  7  P.  M 357o 

The  maximum   car  service   on   the  date   referred  to 


t64 


The    N  c  IV    York 


was  about  i,6co  cars,  between  5  and  6  P.  M.  It  must 
be  remarked  that  a  large  part  of  this  traffic  is  moved 
through  narrow  streets,  denselj'  congested  with  vehicles 
of  all  kinds,  under  no  effective  constraint  to  give  the 
car  the  right-of-way,  and  yielding  such  privilege  only 


Hourly    Travel 


Hourly    Traffic    Chart 

by  virtue  of  the  good  will  of  the  driver.  On  the  Broad- 
way, Fourth  Avenue  and  some  other  lines  a  headway 
of  fifteen  to  twenty  seconds  is  maintained  for  several 
hours  in  the  busy  part  of  the  day.  Both  of  these  lines 
are  intersected  by  the  busiest  lateral  thoroughfares   in 


Electrical    Handbook  i6^ 

the  city  and  pass  in  some  portion  of  their  route  through 
streets  so  narrow  that  a  vehicle  standing  alongside  the 
curb  must  be  passed  with  caution. 

It  is  inevitable  that  under  such  conditions  many  acci- 
dents will  occur — especially  collisions  with  vehicles. 
The  wonder  is  that  they  are  not  more  numerous.  The 
natural  result  is  a  great  volume  of  claims.  These,  if 
valid  and  reasonable,  are  settled  promptly,  but  as  many 
are  excessive,  or  otherwise  unfair,  or  fraudulent,  they 
pass  into  litigation,  constituting  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  the  calendars  of  the  higher  civil  courts.  The  per- 
sonal injury  claims  arising  out  of  street  railway  acci- 
dents in  New  York  since  the  introduction  of  mechanical 
traction  have  become,  both  from  their  volume  and  from 
the  methods  pursued  by  certain  members  of  the  legal 
profession  who  have  specialized  this  class  of  practice,  a 
matter  of  serious  consideration.  While  the  railway 
companies  win  the  majority  of  cases  that  come  to  trial, 
the  expense  of  defending  so  many  suits  is  very  great. 

As  independent  companies  before  consolidation, 
many  of  the  lines  now  composing  the  system 
traversed  meandering  and  circuitous  routes.  With 
the  gradual  amalgamation  that  has  come  about 
with  the  change  of  motive  power,  these  routes 
have  been  to  a  great  extent  obliterated,  and 
not  only  does  the  map  present  the  general  aspect 
of  a  gridiron,  but,  disregarding  some  of  the  horse 
lines  not  yet  converted,  the  "routing"  of  cars  conforms 
largely  to  direct  north  and  south  and  east  and  west 
lines.  Except  for  Broadway,  whatever,  diagonal  move- 
ment is  desired  is  now  obtained  by  ineans  of  transfers. 

In  addition  to  the  passenger  service  the  Company, 
under  contract  with  the  Metropolitan  Express  Company, 
operates  about  thirty  express  cars.  At  the  depot  at  Lex- 
ington Avenue  and  129th  Street,  where  connection  is 
made  with  the  Union  Railway  Company,  the  trolley 
pole,  with  which  all  these  cars  are  equipped,  is  substi- 
tuted for  the  plow,  permitting  the  express  cars  to  reach 
every  part  of  the  system  in  the  Bronx  and  Westchester 
county. 


t66  The    New    York 

With  the  adoption  of  cable  power  on  Broadway  in 
1893.  a  school  of  instruction  for  the  "gripmen"  (as  the 
drivers  of  the  cable  cars  were  called)  was  started.  Dur- 
ing all  the  changes  of  power  and  additions  of  electric 
mileage  it  has  kept  pace  with  the  requirements  of  the 
service,  furnishing,  since  its  establishment  more  than 
10,300  trained  gripmen  and  motormen.  At  times  it  has 
been  under  great  pressure,  as  in  1901,  when,  in  chang- 
ing the  motive  power  of  the  cable  lines  to  electricity,  it 
was  necessary  to  qualify  their  entire  force  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  gripmen  as  motormen,  in  addition  to 
supplying  men  to  the  existing  electric  lines. 

Every  applicant  for  the  position  of  motorman  is  re- 
quired to  pass  a  rigorous  physical  examination,  includ- 
ing tests  for  eyesight,  hearing  and  color-sense.  This 
done,  he  enters  the  school,  where  he  becomes  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  apparatus  he  is  to  handle  and  acquires, 
amid  quiet  surroundings,  an  instinctive  knowledge  of 
how  to  manipulate  it  under  all  circumstances  before  en- 
countering the  embarrassing  conditions  of  actual  service 
on  the  street.  Upon  certification  of  the  chief  instructor 
as  to  his  ability  he  is  then  placed  on  a  line  having  little 
street  traffic  where,  under  the  supervision  of  an  in- 
structor, he  operates  a  car  for  a  week,  or  ten  days,  or 
longer,  until  he  is  deemed  competent  to  take  charge  of 
a  car  on  a  more  crowded  street.  He  is  then  assigned 
as  an  extra  man  to  some  division  on  the  requisition  of 
the  General  Foreman.  Of  the  men  who  pass  the  phys- 
ical examination  only  about  forty  per  cent,  finally  qualify 
as  fir.st-class  men. 

One  of  the  primary  objects  sought  by  those  who 
planned  the  consolidation  of  the  roads  on  the  Island  of 
Manhattan  was  the  promotion  of  travel  by  an  inter- 
change of  transfers.  As  the  system  grew  and  mechan- 
ical traction  was  applied  to  one  line  after  another,  the 
privilege  was  point  by  point  extended  and  its  use  in- 
creased enormously,  so  that,  from  an  issue  equivalent  to 
five  or  six  per  cent,  of  the  cash  fares  collected,  the  per- 
centage rose  in  1901  to  fifty-six  per  cent.,  and  the  ave- 
rage rate  of  fare  declined  from  4.75  cents  to  3.16  cents. 


Electrical    Handbook  i6y 

At  the  same  time  the  number  of  paying  passengers  had 
risen  from  63,000,000  to  303,000,000,  showing  how,  in 
conjunction  with  electric  traction,  the  extension  of  the 
privilege  had  popularized  the  use  of  the  surface  cars. 
As  might  be  expected,  however,  gross  abuses  of  the 
privilege  had  arisen  until  a  large  proportion  of  passen- 
gers were  riding  to  and  from  their  homes  daily  on  a 
single  fare.  The  cause  of  most  of  the  abuse  was  that 
with  the  enormous  increase  in  the  issue,  conductors  had 
no  time  to  punch  the  date,  time  and  other  limitations 
properly  or  at  all,  nor,  indeed,  to  examine  the  limitations 
on  the  tickets  presented,  and  the  public  becoming  famil- 
iar with  the  situation,  found  that  any  ticket,  however 
valueless  it  might  be,  could  be  presented  on  any  line 
with  the  practical  certainty  that  it  would  be  accepted. 
The  management,  in  1901,  found  itself  confronted  with 
the  fact  that  the  people  of  New  York  could  ride  over 
the  Metropolitan  lines  in  any  direction,  and  practically 
for  any  length  of  time  for  a  single  fare.  Up  to  that 
time  the  Company  had  not  asserted  its  right  to  place 
limitations  of  any  kind  on  the  transfer  privilege,  but  it 
was  plainly  necessary  to  do  so  if  the  revenue  was  to  be 
protected.  A  plan  was  developed  which  appeared  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  situation  and  the  efficacy  of 
which  has  been  demonstrated  by  results.  Three  colors 
of  transfers  were  adopted,  green,  red  and  white,  the 
green  tickets  to  be  issued  only  by  conductors  upon  cars 
going  in  a  generally  northerly  direction,  the  red  ticket 
only  by  conductors  on  cars  going  in  a  general  southerly 
direction,  and  the  white  ticket  by  conductors  on  the 
crosstown  lines,  good  going  either  north  or  south.  In 
addition  a  re-transfer  was  allowed  upon  all  lines  with 
the  e.xception  of  the  crosstown  lines  south  of  34th  Street. 
In  re-transferring  on  the  crosstown  lines  the  transfer 
ticket  was  not  to  be  taken  up  by  the  conductor,  but 
merely  inspected  for  verification.  The  printing  of  the 
date  in  large  type  on  each  day's  tickets  avoided  the 
necessity  of  punching  anything  but  the  hour  and  the 
point  of  transfer,  and  made  the  ticket  worthless  after 
midnight  of  the  date  of  issue. 


i68  The   New    York 

This  system  has  continued  in  use  unchanged,  and 
has  proved  equally  satisfactory  to  the  company  and  to 
the  public.  While  preventing  "circle  riding,"  it  enables 
the  passenger  to  ride  from  any  part  of  the  city  to  any 
other  part  for  a  single  fare  and  with  a  minimum  of 
inconvenience  in  the  matter  of  ticketing. 

Europeans  are  prone  to  make  unfavorable  com- 
parisons of  the  single  fare  and  transfer  system  with  the 
stage  or  zone  tariff,  arguing  that  the  fares  of  those  who 
desire  the  transfer  are  in  effect  paid  by  those  who  do 
not  make  use  of  the  privilege  and  that,  as  the  average 
fare  has  been  reduced  to  little  above  three  cents,  it 
would  be  better  for  all  concerned  if  the  minimum  were 
fixed  at  three  cents,  with  advancing  rates  for  additional 
distance  or  privileges.  Whatever  there  may  be  in 
such  an  argument  from  a  theoretical  point  of  view,  there 
is  no  possible  doubt  that  in  actual  practice  the  transfer 
system  affords  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number. 
If  it  has  been  profitable  to  the  Company,  its  benefits 
to  the  public,  and  especially  to  people  of  small  means, 
have  been  inestimable.  For  the  floating  laborer  or 
mechanic,  whose  place  of  business  is  constantly  chang- 
ing, the  fact  of  being  able  to  travel  from  any  part  of 
the  borough  to  any  other  for  a  single  fare  means  a  great 
deal.  The  frequent  changes  of  residence  which  were 
formerly  necessary  to  enable  the  mechanic  to  live  near 
his  job  have,  since  the  establishment  of  the  transfer 
system,  almost  entirely  disappeared,  with  the  resulting 
introduction  of  economv  and  comfort  in  his  home  life. 


THE   EDISON   ELECTIilC  IL- 
LUMINATING   COMPANY, 
OF  BROOKLYN 


The    Edison    Electric    I/himinating- 
Company,  of  Brooklyn 

THE  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  by  reason  of  its  prox- 
imity to  the  Borough  of  Manhattan,  suffers  the 
inevitable  loss  of  prestige  which  must  follow  to 
that  which,  however  great,  lies  in  the  shadow  of 
something  greater,  and  the  greatness  of  Brooklyn  is  sel- 
dom realized  or  adequately  understood,  not  alone  by  the 
stranger  at  its  gates,  but  by  the  denizen  of  the  smaller,  if 
wealthier  borough,  on  the  other  side  of  the  East  River. 

Prior  to  consolidation  in  1896,  when  it  became  a  part 
of  the  greater  New  York,  Brooklyn  was  in  point  of 
population  the  fourth  city  in  the  United  States,  and  an 
industrial  centre  of  the  first  magnitude.  Since  then  the 
growth  has  been  very  rapid,  so  that  the  Board  of  Health 
estimates  for  1903  give  Brooklyn  a  population  of  1,313,095, 
as  against  1,928,866  for  Manhattan.  As  far  as  area  is 
concerned,  Manhattan  is  much  smaller  than  Brooklyn, 
the  former  covering  21.93  square  miles,  the  latter  77.62 
square  miles.  Within  this  territory  one  finds  not  alone 
that  for  which  Brookh'n  is  noted — homes  and  churches 
• — but  miles  of  shops,  wholesale  and  retail,  and  hundreds 
of  factories.  There  are  also  along  the  water  front  of 
the  Borough  of  Brooklyn  two  institutions  which  are 
specially  worthy  of  mention,  namely,  the  very  large  and 
commodious  piers  and  docks  of  the  Bush  Company, 
Limited,  and  Coney  Island,  a  summer  watering  place 
whose  name  and  fame  arc  a  household  word  in  the 
United  States. 

To  this  constituency,  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn  supplies  electrical  energy  for 
lighting  and  power.  The  first  annual  report  of  the  Com- 
pany shows  that  on  January  i,  1890,  there  was  an  equiva- 
lent of  6.600  lamps  of  sixteen  candle-power  connected  to 
171 


172 


The    N  c  IV    York 


the    system,   current    for   which    was   generated   by   250 
horse-power   engines   belted   to   generators   on  the   floor 


above.  To-day,  there  is  an  equivalent  of  upwards  of 
800,000  lamps  of  sixteen  candle-power  connected  to  the 
system,  and  the  load  has  grown  so  rapidly  that  the  30,000 


Electrical    Handbook  //j 

horse-power  in  high-class  engines  at  the  Company's  two 
waterside  stations  will  soon  be  insufficient  to  carry  it,  and 
two  more  engines  have  been  ordered  and  are  now  in 
course  of  construction — one  a  5,000  horse-power  cross 
compound  Westinghouse,  and  the  other  a  10,000  horse- 
power turbine,  the  first  Parsons  turbine  to  be  made  in 
this  country  by  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company. 

The  current  as  generated  at  these  waterside  stations 
is  three-phase  alternating,  twenty-five  cycles,  and  is  car- 
ried at  6,600  volts  to  rotary  converting  stations,  of  which 
the  Company  has  fourteen  located  in  different  sections  of 
the  Borough,  from  which  it  is  distributed  as  direct  cur- 
rent at  115  and  230  volts.  The  entire  distributing  system 
is  meshed  so  that  in  the  event  of  disabling  of  units,  the 
load  is  automatically  transferred  and  carried  by  the  re- 
maining units,  and,  as  a  still  further  guarantee  of  con- 
tinuity of  service,  there  are  eight  storage  batteries,  lo- 
cated at  substations,  with  an  aggregate  capacity  of  65,000 
ampere  hours.  The  customer  is  thus  certain  to  be  reas- 
onably exempt  from  interruptions  to  the  service,  while 
the  batteries  can  be  economically  charged  from  the  sur- 
plus energy  of  a  light  day  load  and  used  to  advantage  at 
the  peak. 

The  Company  also  operates  a  two-phase  alternating 
sixty  cycle  overhead  system  for  suburban  or  sparsely 
settled  sections  and  for  localities  not  likely  to  be  specially 
remunerative  until  more  fully  developed.  These  alter- 
nating current  circuits  are  changed  over  to  direct  as  rap- 
idly as  is  warranted  by  business  returns.  It  has  been 
the  policy  of  the  Company  for  years,  in  cooperation  with 
the  city  authorities,  and  in  line  with  service  develop- 
ments, to  remove  from  time  to  time  as  much  overhead 
construction  as  is  feasible,  substituting  the  more  sub- 
stantial and  less  obstructive  underground  system.  In 
1903,  for  instance,  193,000  feet  of  overhead  wires  were 
displaced  by  underground  construction.  At  present  the 
Company  has  connected  to  its  system  1,200  miles  of 
overhead  wiring  and  about  650  miles  of  wires  in  sub- 
ways. 

The  Company  does  the  municipal  lighting  in  the  Bor- 


174 


T  h  c    X  c  zv    York 


ough  of  Brooklyn,  supplying  current  to  4,356  arc  lamps 
of  nominal  1,200  candle  power  for  street  lighting  and  to 
32,086  incandescents  of  sixteen-candle  power  for  the 
illumination  of  public  buildings.     The  total  number  of 


Dreamland,  Coney  Island  — Decorative  Tower.  j6o  feet  high 


arc  lamps  attached  to  the  system  is  over  io,oco  and  the 
power  load  aggregates  15,000  horse  power  in  motors. 

.\  feature  of  the  Company's  equipment  is  the  coal 
handling  apparatus  recently  installed  at  a  cost  of  $100,- 
000  at  the  Bay  Ridge  power  house,  for  the  rapid,  auto- 


Electrical    Handbook  775 

matic  and  economical  conveyance  of  fuel.  The  coal  is 
first  lifted  in  the  bucket  from  the  boat  to  the  top  of  a 
hoisting  tower,  where  it  is  automatically  crushed  and 
weighed.  It  then  slides  through  a  hopper  into  a  car  be- 
neath. The  cars  run  on  a  cable  railway  and  dis- 
charge either  into  a  4,000-ton  coal  storage  pocket  or  into 
an  extension  of  this  pocket  over  the  boiler  room.  If  the 
latter,  the  coal  runs  by  means  of  gravity  into  vertical 
pipes,  through  which  it  is  delivered  on  the  boiler  room 
floor,  the  pipes  being  controlled  by  valves  which  permit 
the  coal  supply  to  be  turned  on  or  shut  off  in  accordance 
with  the  demand  of  the  boilers.  The  coal  stored  in  the 
pocket,  when  required  for  use,  is  carried  to  the  top  of 
the  boiler  room  chutes  by  an  endless  chain  bucket  con- 
veyor. The  buckets  are  filled  from  discharging  hoppers 
provided  with  stop  valves  and  located  at  the  bottom  of 
the  pocket,  carried  on  the  chain  to  a  point  over  the  boiler 
room,  automatically  discharged  and  returned  empty  to 
the  charging  hoppers.  By  this  system,  one  hundred  tons 
an  hour  can  be  readily  handled  from  boats  alongside  to 
boiler  room  floor  at  a  cost  of  two  and  one-half  cents  a 
ton. 

The  fuel  used,  in  connection  with  a  system  of  forced 
draft,  is  a  combination  of  No.  3  buckwheat  and  bitu- 
minous coals  mixed  on  the  boiler  room  floor  or  in  the 
furnace  in  proportions  according  to  the  load,  one  of 
bituminous  to  six  of  anthracite  at  light  load,  one  to  one 
at  maximum.  It  is  not  claimed  that  this  is  as  effective 
as  the  pure  soft  coal  (which  is  impracticable  on  account 
of  smoke),  but  it  is  so  within  fifteen  per  cent.,  while  in 
cost  it  is  thirty  per  cent,  lower.  The  results  from  the 
use  of  this  combination,  it  may  be  said,  have  been  ex- 
tremely satisfactory. 

The  lighting  and  power  business  of  the  Brooklyn  Ed- 
ison Company,  with  one  notable  exception,  is,  in  its  gen- 
eral outlines,  of  the  same  kind  and  character  as  that  of 
similar  electric  lighting  and  power  companies  in  the 
other  large  cities  in  this  country.  It  may  be  said  that 
there  are  probably  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  cur- 


176 


The    New    York 


rent  consumed  in  Brooklj'n  fewer  isolated  plants  than 
are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  large  cities  in  the  United 
States.  As  an  illustration  of  this,  it  may  be  cited  that  in 
Brooklyn    there    are    twenty-one    theatres,    current    for 


every  one  of  which  is  supplied  by  the  Brooklyn  Edison 
Companj-.  Another  noteworthy  feature  of  the  business 
here  is  the  large  number  of  electric  signs  which  have 
been  recently  installed  on  the  Edison  system — about  two 
hundred  since  January  i,  1903.  This  effective  class  of 
advertising  is  becoming  increasingly  popular  in  Brook- 


Electrical   Handbook  lyy 

lyn.  It  is  profitable  business,  too,  for  the  company,  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  lamps  being  more  continuously 
in  use  than  is  commonly  the  case  with  ordinary  niercan- 
tile  or  residential  lighting. 

The  Company  has  also  recently  taken  measures  for 
stimulating  and  developing  the  electric  automobile  busi- 
ness. It  has  established  ten  charging  stations  operated 
directly  by  the  company  and  has  encouraged  the  installa- 
tion of  outfits  for  public  use  in  stables  and  garages  to 
such  purpose  that  there  are  now  a  comparatively  large 
number  of  them  connected  to  the  system. 

The  exceptional  feature  of  the  Brooklyn  Company's 
business  is  the  extent  and  proportions  of  its  summer 
load,  the  peak  of  which  last  year  was  higher  on  July  4 
than  on  the  heaviest  day  in  the  previous  December,  and 
which  this  year  bids  fair  to  be  very  much  higher  than 
that  of  any  day  last  winter. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  here  that  during  the 
summer  season,  the  consumption  of  current  for  residen- 
tial and  mercantile  lighting  is  at  its  lowest  ebb  and  that 
for  the  average  illuminating  company  the  dog  days  are 
encompassed  by  an  all-pervading  dullness.  The  Brook- 
lyn Edison  Company  is  fortunate  in  that  included  within 
its  sphere  of  operation  is  Coney  Island,  the  greatest  sum- 
mer resort  in  America,  the  Mecca  of  all  warm  weather 
visitors  to  New  York  and  the  playground  and  theatre  of 
amusement  to  a  population  within  the  metropolitan  dis- 
trict exceeding  four  millions.  The  Island  load  of  the 
Edison  Company  begins  about  the  15th  of  May,  lasts 
clear  through  until  the  ist  of  October,  and  is  heaviest  in 
midsummer,  when  the  ordinary  run  of  business  is  light- 
est. The  development  of  electric  lighting  at  Coney  Isl- 
and, practically  all  of  which  is  supplied  by  the  Edison 
Company,  has  within  the  past  two  years  been  very  strik- 
ing, due  to  the  advent  of  great  and  extensive  amusement 
enterprises,  which  rely  mainly  for  their  power  of  public 
attraction  upon  the  brilliant  and  artistic  utilization  of 
myriads  of  incandescent  lamps.  The  admirable  and  strik- 
ing efifect  of  upwards  of  100,000  incandescent  lamps 
burning  within  one  enclosure,  in  ropes,  clusters,  festoons. 


178 


The    N  c  w    }'  0  r  k 


Electrical    Handbook  ij() 

long  rows,  and  illuminating  the  decorative  outlines  of 
entrances,  arches,  turrets,  entire  buildings  and  tall  towers, 
cannot  be  adequately  described,  but  must  be  seen  to  be 
appreciated.  Suffice  it  to  say.  however,  that  the  Coney 
Island  lighting  of  to-day  is  probably  the  most  lavish  and 
magnificent  decorative  illumination  to  be  found  any- 
where in  the  world. 

The  most  recent  of  these  big  Island  amusement  en- 
terprises is  called  "Dreamland."  It  is  a  combination  of 
vaudeville,  spectacular  exhibitions  and  amusement  for 
people  of  all  ages,  exteriors  and  interiors  alike  resplen- 
dent with  electric  light.  Within  this  one  enclosure  there 
are  more  incandescent  lamps  than  are  to  be  found  in 
manj'  large  cities.  The  decorative  tower  in  the  centre 
alone  contains  42,000  lamps,  one  thousand  of  them  being 
studded  in  the  ball  at  the  apex.  In  addition  to  the  in- 
candescent lamps,  there  is  utilized  in  "Dreamland"  about 
750  horse  power  in  motors,  the  entire  installation  re- 
quiring from  the  Edison  Company  about  45,000  amperes 
of  current. 

Another  amusement  enterprise  of  the  same  character, 
which  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  priority,  and  in  which 
the  lavish  use  of  incandescent  lamps  is  a  notable  feature, 
is  called  "Luna  Park."  The  Edison  service  is  also  ex- 
tensively employed  by  a  great  many  other  distinctive  and 
interesting  amusements  and  spectacular  displays  at  this 
resort,  individual  mention  of  which  is  unnecessary. 

Most  of  the  lamps  in  use  at  Coney  Island  are  of 
eight-candle  power,  and  this  summer  (  1904)  their  num- 
ber will  be  upwards  of  300.000.  The  effect  of  such  an 
extensive  utilization  of  current  is  apparent  in  the  load 
curves  which  accompany  this  article,  and  coming  at  a 
season  of  the  year  wdien  ordinary  business  is  lightest,  it 
is  an  especially  welcome  and  attractive  development. 
Xor  must  it  be  supposed  that  it  was  accomplished  with- 
out strenuous  effort  and  large  expenditure  on  the  part  of 
the  Company.  The  Company's  lines  were  not  extended 
to  Coney  Island  until  1897.  and  even  then  the  extension, 
which  involved  the  construction  of  six  miles  of  high  ten- 
sion  transmission   line,   a   rotarv   converter   station   and 


i8o 


The    N  e  zi'    York 


Electrical    Handbook 


i8i 


mains  and  feeders,  was  opposed  by  a  conservative  ele- 
ment in  the  management  of  the  companj',  which  re- 
garded it  as  a  daring  venture,  the  outcome  of  which  was 
doubtful.  Since  then  the  Company  has  always  stood 
ready  to  do  its  share  toward.the  development  of  business 
at  Cone}^  Island  and  at  times  has  been  obliged  to  assume 
a  considerable  amount  of  risk,  almost  if  not  quite  as 
great  as  the  cost  of  the  first  outlay.  As  an  example, 
when  the  plans  for  lighting  Luna   Park  were  first  laid 


Comparison  of  the  Summer  and    Winter  Load,  Brooklyn  Edison 
Co.,  showing  the  effect  of  the  Coney  Island  business 


before  the  officers  of  the  Company,  they  saw  at  a  glance 
that  the  equipment  necessary  for  the  substation  and  the 
underground  low  tension  feeders  and  mains  would  cost 
many  thousands  of  dollars.  With  nothing  to  rely  upon 
as  security  for  their  investment  except  the  reputation  of 
the  proprietors  for  business  ability  and  the  success  which 
had  usually  attended  all  well  organized  enterprises  at 
Coney  Island,  they  accepted  the  risk.  The  result,  an  ex- 
traordinary success  for  Luna  Park,  not  only  vindicated 
the  judgment  of  the  officers  of  the  Edison  Company,  but 
stimulated  the  greater  use  of  electric  lighting  bv  manv 


i82  The    N  ezv    }'  o  r  k 

others  and  was  directly  responsible  for  the  estabHshment 
by  a  syndicate  of  capitaHsts  of  the  "Dreamland"  already 
mentioned.  In  preparation  for  "Dreamland"  and  other 
Coney  Island  developments  of  19C4.  six  miles  of  subway 
were  laid,  additional  rotaries  with  a  capacity  of  over  5,000 
kilowatts  installed,  a  new  building  erected  and  many 
feeders  placed,  at  an  expense  of  over  $300,000. 

Within  the  past  two  years,  in  conformity  with  modern 
methods,  the  Brooklyn  Edison  Company  has  organized  a 
well-equipped  advertising  department,  which  works  in 
cooperation  with  the  contract  department  in  obtaining 
new  business.  One  feature  of  the  work  of  the  advertising 
bureau  is  the  publication  of  a  monthly  illustrated  maga- 
zine called  The  Brooklyn  Edison,  which  aims  to  be  a 
medium  of  communication  between  the  company  and  the 
public,  chronicling  new  and  interesting  facts  not  only  in 
connection  with  the  operations  of  the  company,  but  in 
the  wider  field  of  general  electrical  developments  having 
a  bearing  upon  the  lighting  and  power  industry. 


THE  NEPF  YORK  TERMINUS  OF 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  AND 

THE   LONG  ISLAND 

IIAILIIOADS 


The  New  York  Terminus  of  the 
Pennsylvania  and  Long  Island 
'Railroads 

THE  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  physical  con- 
nection of  New  York  City  with  the  great  trunk 
lines  terminating  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hud- 
son has  long  been  desired  by  travelers  from  the 
West  and  South,  as  well  as  by  the  nearby  residents  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey.  Through  railway  connection  of 
New  England  points,  by  the  way  of  New  York  city,  to 
the  southwest  is  a  matter  of  scarcely  less  importance  for 
the  convenience  of  a  great  section  of  the  countrJ^  Fur- 
thermore, connection  without  ferry  transfer  with  the  de- 
sirable residence  tract  comprised  within  the  limits  of 
Long  Island  is  of  immense  importance  as  an  outlet  for 
the  ever-increasing  population  of  the  city. 

The  barrier  presented  by  the  great  rivers  surrounding 
Manhattan  Island,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  topography  of 
the  city  and  the  high  value  of  its  real  estate,  have  pre- 
sented stupendous  obstacles,  from  both  financial  and  en- 
gineering standpoints,  to  the  realization  of  any  practical 
scheme. 

Prior  to  the  successful  development  of  electiic  trac- 
tion for  heavy  railway  service  the  bridging  of  these  river 
barriers  appeared  to  be  the  only  satisfactory  solution  of 
the  problem,  inasmuch  as  heavy  and  congested  railway 
operation  through  long  tunnel  lines  by  means  of  steam 
locomotives  introduces  such  serious  disadvantages  as  to 
nullify  any  benefits  of  a  central  terminus. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  has  had  under 
consideration  for  many  years  plans  for  bringing  its  ter- 
minal from  the  west  over  the  Hudson  River  into  New 
York  City  by  means  of  a  bridge,  which  involved  a  struc- 


i86  The    X  c  zc    V  o  r  k 

ture  of  immense  proportions  and  very  costly  in  itself,  and 
especially  so  in  the  city  property' necessary  for  its  ap- 
proaches and  terminus.  This  plan,  moreover,  accom- 
plished only  the  purpose  of  a  western  connection,  leaving 
New  England  and  Long  Island  points  without  similar 
facilities. 

Upon  the  demonstration  that  electric  traction  was 
practicable  for  heavy  train  units,  the  management  of  the 
Pennsjlvania  Railroad  again  turned  its  attention  to  the 
possibilities  of  a  tunnel  entrance.  The  acquisition  by  the 
company  of  the  control  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  en- 
abled its  officers  to  prepare  a  well-rounded  out  scheme 
for  a  terminal  in  the  city,  embracing  local.  New  Jersey 
and  Long  Island  business  as  well  as  a  through  connection 
with  New  England,  thus  at  once  fulfilling  all  the  needs  of 
the  situation. 

In  Ma}'.  1902.  public  announcement  was  made  that  the 
Pennsj-lvania  Railroad  Company  proposed  to  enter  New 
York  City  by  tunneling  under  the  North  River  from  the 
west  and  the  East  River  from  the  east  and  to  establish  an 
adequate  terminus  in  the  heart  of  the  city. — one  which 
would  satisfactorily  provide  for  both  through  and  local 
business  for  manj'  years  to  come. 

In  the  completion  of  the  plans  there  were  many  legal 
obstacles  to  overcome  in  securing  franchises  containing 
the  necessary  provisions  and  involving  application  to  the 
State  and  city  authorities  as  well  as  to  the  Board  of  Rapid 
Transit  Railroad  Commissioners,  which  has  in  charge  the 
development  of  railway  facilities  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  bills  enabling  the  railroad  companj-  to  enter  the 
cit}'  were  passed  by  the  Legislature  in  Albany,  April  il 
and  14,  1902 ;  a  certificate  of  approval  was  issued  by  the 
Board  of  Rapid  Transit  Railroad  Commissioners  on  Oc- 
tober 9,  1902,  and  the  franchise  was  passed  by  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  on  December  16  and  approved  by  the  Mayor 
on  December  22,  1902. 

The  certificate  prescribes  the  terms  of  rental,  specifies 
certain  uses  of  the  tunnel  by  the  city,  and  ordains  that 
the  work  should  begin  within  three  months  and  be  com- 


Electrical    Hand  b  o  o  k  187 

pleted    for    operation   within    five   years    with   a   motive 
power  not  involving  combustion  in  the  tunnels. 

Two  companies  have  been  incorporated  to  carry  on 
the  work.  One  of  these,  the  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey 
&  New  York  Railroad  Company,  will  build  all  of  that 
part  of  the  tunnel  and  approaches  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  and  extending  under  the  North  River  to  the 
boundary  line  between  the  States  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey.  The  other,  the  Pennsylvania,  New  York  &  Long 
Island  Railroad  Company  will  construct  the  tunnel,  ter- 
minal station  and  yards,  starting  from  the  State  line 
under  the  North  River  and  extending  under  the  island  of 
Manhattan,  the  East  River  and  Long  Island  City.  The 
officers  of  these  companies  are  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
officers,  the  president  being  Mr.  A.  J.  Cassatt,  president 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company. 

ORGANIZATION 

It  was  evident  that  this  great  work  would  require  the 
highest  degree  of  technical  skill  to  surmount  the  many 
engineering  difficulties  and  would  demand  the  closest  at- 
tention to  an  infinite  amount  of  detail.  It  should  conse- 
quently be  undertaken  by  a  well-balanced,  efficient  and 
complete  organization.  The  railroad  officials,  recogniz- 
ing this  fact,  endeavored  to  plan  the  organization  in  a 
thoroughly  comprehensive  way.  aiming  at  united  engi- 
neering strength. 

The  enterprise  naturall}^  divides  itself  into  four  main 
departments :  the  tunnels,  the  architectural  work,  the 
railroad,  and  the  mechanical  and  electrical  engineering. 
The  v.ork  as  a  whole  is  under  the  general  direction  of 
the  management  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  which  as- 
signed the  designing  and  supervision  of  construction  of 
the  tunnels  to  a  committee  of  civil  engineers;  appointed 
a  firm  of  architects  for  the  superstructure  and  the  archi- 
tectural work  ;  assumed  the  task  of  bringing  the  road  into 
the  tunnels  and  terminus,  and  committed  the  mechanical 
and  electrical  engineering  to  an  independent  firm  of  en- 
gineers. The  general  direction  of  the  whole  work  is 
assumed  by  President  Cassatt.  and  its  special  supervision 


i88  The   New    York 

by  Mr.  Samuel  Rea,  fourth  vice-president,  to  whom  all 
departmental  bodies  report. 

Brigadier-General  Charles  W.  Raymond,  U.  S.  Army 
Engineers,  is  the  chairman  of  the  commission  of  civil 
engineers,  the  other  members  of  which  are  Mr.  Charles 
M.  Jacobs,  chief  engineer  North  River  division ;  Mr. 
Alfred  Noble,  chief  engineer  East  River  division;  Mr. 
William  H.  Brown,  chief  engineer  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road, in  charge  of  tracks  and  terminal  yards ;  Mr.  George 
Gibbs,  in  charge  of  the  mechanical  engineering,  electric 
locomotives  and  traction.  Messrs.  McKim,  Mead  & 
White  of  New  York  are  the  architects  of  the  station,  and 
a  comprehensive  engineering  and  construction  agreement 
for  the  mechanical  and  electrical  engineering  has  been 
made  with  Messrs.  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Com- 
pany, who  have  also  been  selected  as  the  engineers  for 
the  architects.  In  addition,  advisory  committees,  com- 
posed of  the  operating  officers  of  the  road,  have  been  ap- 
pointed to  work  out  the  special  problems  relating  to  the 
required  railway  facilities  and  to  pass  upon  the  adequacy 
of  the  operating  features  as  developed  by  the  labors  of 
the  various  departmental  bodies.  Harmony  of  operation 
with  a  proper  degree  of  independence  is  eflrected  by  this 
organization,  which,  while  it  keeps  the  officers  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  in  close  touch  with  the 
project  in  all  its  steps,  relieves  them  of  the  complexity  of 
work  and  the  multiplicity  of  detail  which  are  necessarily 
identified  with  such  a  gigantic  project.  In  addition,  the 
task  of  administration  on  the  part  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company  is  seen  to  be  much  simplified  when  it 
is  considered  that  the  company  has  only  three  bodies  with 
which  to  deal,  namely,  the  commission,  the  architects  and 
the  engineers,  upon  whom  is  placed  the  whole  responsi- 
bility and  labor  of  execution. 

GENERAL 

In  general,  the  scheme  adopted  comprehends  a  great 

terminal  station  and  yard  located  below  the  street  level 

in  the  centre  of  the  shopping  district  of  New  York  city; 

the  connection  of  this  terminal  station  bv  a  double-track 


Electrical    Handbook  i8^ 

railway  carried  in  two  tunnels  westward  to  a  connection 
with  the  New  York  division  of  the  railway  on  the  level 
stretch  of  meadows  between  Jersey  City  and  Newark ; 
connection  with  the  Long  Island  Railwaj'  system  at  Long 
Island  Cit}-  bj-  a  four-track  railway  carried  in  four  tun- 
nels ;  a  connection  with  the  Port  Morris  branch  of  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  by  means 
of  a  new  line  to  be  built  from  Woodside  and  carried  over 
the  East  River  and  Ward's  and  Randall's  islands  by  a 
high  level  bridge ;  the  operation  of  full  size  railway  trains 
through  these  tunnels  by  means  of  electric  locomotive 
power ;  the  operation  of  suburban  trains  by  either  loco- 
motive or  multiple  unit  electric  power  as  may  best  serve 
the  development  of  the  adjoining  districts;  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  interchange  and  terminal  service  j-ards  both 
at  Long  Island  City  and  on  the  Hackensack  meadows, 
where  change  from  electric  to  steam  locomotive  power, 
and  vice  versa,  may  be  made. 

TUNNELS 

The  tunnel  project  is  the  greatest  of  its  kind  ever  un- 
dertaken. The  new  railroad  line  will  begin  at  a  point  on 
the  main  line  near  Harrison,  New  Jersey,  thence  over  the 
Hackensack  meadows  to  the  yard  west  of  Bergen  Hill. 
At  this  point  it  will  enter  a  twin  tunnel  and  drop  on  a 
ijjj  per  cent,  grade  to  the  river  bank,  at  which  point  the 
river  section  of  the  tunnel  will  begin.  These  river  tun- 
nels are  to  consist  of  two  tubes  driven  side  by  side  with 
37-foot  centers  and  each  twenty-three  feet  in  outside 
diameter,  to  contain  a  single  track.  The  river  section 
will  be  4,860  feet  in  length  and  the  gradients  are  to  be 
from  Iys  to  i^%  per  cent. 

The  tubes  will  be  driven  by  the  shield  method  through 
the  silt  composing  the  river  bottom  and  with  the  aid  of 
compressed  air.  Near  the  east  shore  of  the  North  River 
it  is  expected  that  rock  will  be  encountered.  The  gen- 
eral design  of  these  tube  tunnels  is  shown  in  the  figure. 
It  will  be  noted  that  they  are  of  heavy  flanged  cast  iron 
sections,  lined  with  concrete  two  feet  in  thickness.  The 
substantial  supports  for  the  railway,  consisting  of  steel 


igo 


The    Nciv.    York 


Typical  cross  section  of  Tube  Tunnel  under  river,  showing  screw- 
pile  supports 


Electrical    Handbook  igi 

screw-pile  columns,  are  also  shown,  these  supports  being 
used  in  all  silt  formation.  A  novel  provision,  insuring 
safety  in  operation,  will  consist  of  the  concrete  side 
benches  extending  above  the  level  of  the  car  floor,  and 
which  will  provide  convenient  walks  as  well  as  housing 
for  the  cable-ways,  etc. 

From  the  working  shaft  on  the  New  York  side  the 
tunnels  are  to  be  continued  through  Thirty-second  street 
by  a  twin  masonry  tunnel  to  the  terminal  station  yard 
beginning  at  Tenth  avenue. 

The  eastern  division  of  the  tunnels,  giving  connection 
with  Long  Island,  and  with  New  England  points  through 
the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  will 
begin  at  the  Seventh  avenue  end  of  the  terminal  station 
and  proceed  easterly  across  and  under  the  city  by  means 
of  two  double-track  twin  tunnels,  one  in  Thirty-third 
and  the  other  in  Thirty-second  street,  to  the  East  River 
working  shafts  near  First  avenue,  where  again  the  river 
sections  start.  These  river  sections  will  be  similar  to 
those  of  the  North  River,  except  that  the  pile  founda- 
tions are  to  be  omitted  and  consist  in  this  case  of  four 
23-foot  tubes,  each  3,970  feet  in  length,  separately  driven 
by  the  shield  method.  The  gradient  for  the  East  River 
section  of  the  tunnels  varies  from  1V2  per  cent,  maximum 
on  the  New  York  approach  to  i^  per  cent,  maximum  on 
the  Long  Island  approach  ends. 

At  the  Long  Island  City  shore  of  the  East  River  the 
four  tunnels  emerge  into  open  cuts  terminating  in  an  im- 
mense interchange  yard  beginning  at  Thompson  avenue 
and  running  eastward  for  some  one  and  one-half  miles. 

The  mileage  of  the  tunnel  system  will  be  as  follows : 
From  west  portal  in  New  Jersey  to  east  portal 

on  Long  Island,  total  length 5.6  miles 

Single  track  tunnels 4. 72 

Two-track  twin  tunnels 4.50     " 

Three-track  tunnels   0.46 

Length  of  tunnel  tracks I5- 10 

Length  of  station  tracks 12.85 

Total  tracks  between  portals  of  tunnels 27.95     " 


1(^2  The    New    York 

It  will  be  noted  from  the  above  that  the  single  length 
of  its  tunnel  line  from  its  portal  in  New  Jersey  to  its 
portal  in  Long  Island  will  be  5.6  miles,  and  in  this  dis- 
tance there  are  to  be  somewhat  over  fifteen  miles  of 
single  track  tunnels. 

The  actual  length  of  "electric  locomotive  run,"  meas- 
ured from  the  centre  of  the  interchange  yard  to  the  centre 
of  the  terminal  station  in  Manhattan,  is  to  be  somewhat 
over  four  miles  for  each  of  the  North  and  East  River 
sections. 

TERMINAL  STATION 

The  terminal  station  site  occupies  the  four  city  blocks 
bounded  by  Ninth  avenue,  Seventh  avenue,  Thirty-third 
and  Thirty-first  streets,  and  includes  the  closing  and 
occupation  of  Thirty-second  street  on  the  surface  from 
Seventh  to  Ninth  avenue ;  also  a  large  section  of  the 
property  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  avenues  on  Thirty- 
second  street.  The  entire  tract,  measuring  about  1,200,- 
000  square  feet  will  be  occupied  by  the  terminal  station 
yard  at  a  level  of  about  forty-five  feet  below  the  surface. 
The  excavation  will  involve  the  removal  of  some  2,000,- 
000  cubic  yards  of  material  and  the  construction  of  mas- 
sive retaining  walls  surrounding  the  excavation  will  re- 
quire the  use  of  some  50,000  cubic  yards  of  concrete  in  the 
walls.  The  station  tracks  will  be  twenty-one  in  number 
and  the  yard  will  include  an  area  of  about  twenty  acres 
under  four  blocks. 

The  terminal  station  proper  will  cover  two  city  blocks 
and  one  intersecting  street,  a  total  area  of  about  eight 
acres. 

An  imposing  granite  building  has  been  designed  bj- 
the  architects,  Messrs.  ]\IcKim,  Mead  &  White,  for  the 
terminal  station  above  the  street  level.  A  fine  model  of 
this  building,  showing  its  relation  to  the  railroad  below, 
is  exhibited  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  and  is 
well  worth  study.  This  building  will  be  of  steel  skeleton 
construction  with  masonry  curtain  walls,  all  to  be  sup- 
ported by  a  system  of  columns  carrying  the  weight  of 
the  foundations  to  the  rock  below  the  track  level.     The 


Electrical    Handbook  /pj 

design  of  this  building  and  its  supports  is  in  itself  a 
great  engineering  problem. 

Suitable  facilities  in  the  way  of  entrances  and  exits 
will  be  provided  for  handling  passengers  to  and  from 
trains.  The  general  waiting  room  and  concourse  are  to 
be  on  an  intermediate  level  between  the  street  and  tracks. 
The  former,  approximately  ico  feet  wide  by  300  feet 
long,  will  be  a  most  imposing  feature  of  the  station,  its 
immense  vaulted  ceiling  rising  to  a  height  of  about  150 
feet.  The  concourse  is  100  feet  wide  and  spans  the  en- 
tire track  area  between  the  retaining  walls  for  a  distance 
of  510  feet.  It  is  intended  to  erect  over  this  concourse  a 
groined  steel  arched  roof  covered  with  glass,  the  roof  to 
be  supported  on  steel  columns  standing  free  above  the 
track  level  in  some  instances  to  a  height  of  ninety  feet. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  station  will 
embrace  all  the  conveniences  required  for  a  modern  ter- 
minus of  the  largest  size,  and  is  moreover  expected  to  be 
an  ornament  to  the  citj'  and  in  keeping  with  the  monu- 
mental character  of  this  entire  enterprise. 

The  remaining  portion  of  the  surface  within  the  ter- 
minal yard  boundaries  will  probably  be  utilized  for  ex- 
press buildings  and  possibly  by  the  postoffice  of  the 
United  States  Government. 

As  the  station  tracks  are  about  ten  feet  below  mean 
high  water  an  elaborate  system  of  under-drainage  will  be 
installed,  connected  to  sumps  at  the  service  station  on 
the  south  side  of  Thirty-first  street,  at  which  point  the 
water  will  be  pumped  into  the  city  sewers. 

South  of  the  terminus  a  service  station  is  to  be  pro- 
vided in  which  will  be  installed  machinery  for  lighting, 
heating  and  ventilating  the  terminus  and  for  the  opera- 
tion of  the  interlocking  sj^stem.  This  building  will  also 
be  used  as  a  substation  in  connection  with  the  traction 
S3'stem, 

CAPACITY  OF  TER^IINAL   STATIONS 
The  design  of  the  track  facilities  of  the  New  York 
terminus  has  been  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  and  has 
engaged  the  attention  of  a  committee  of  the  operating  of- 


ip4  i  /' ''  -\  <"'*•'  y o r k 

ficers  of  the  railroad  and  the  engineers  for  many  months. 
It  will  be  readily  understood  that  entrance  tracks  under 
the  city  streets,  combined  with  a  rectangular  configura- 
tion of  property,  introduce  difficulties  in  design ;  more- 
over, the  carrying  of  the  supports  for  the  streets  and 
avenues  as  well  as  station  buildings  over  portions  of  the 
yard  i)roperty  introduces  many  limitations. 

The  terminal  station  has  two  approach  tracks  on  the 
west  end  and  four  on  the  east  and  it  is  desired  to  provide 
for  handling  trains  through  these  approach  tracks  at  an 
interval  of  from  two  to  two  and  one-half  minutes  at 
times.  With  all  these  limitations  a  track  layout  for  the 
terminus  has  been  worked  out,  which  contains  over 
twelve  miles  of  tracks  and  provides  for  all  terminal  sta- 
tion facilities  on  a  very  large  scale.  Ihe  train  capacity 
for  the  new  terminal  compared  with  that  of  several  of 
the  other  large  terminal  stations  is  as  follows : 

Total  trains  At 

Station  in  and  out  Maximum 

for  24  hours  Hour 

Jersey  City   255  23 

Broad  .street,  Philadelphia 553  49 

South  terminal  .station,  Boston..  840  gi 

New  York  terminal  station 1,052  144 

CHARACTER  OF  TRAFFIC 

The  terminal  project  is  intended  for  passenger  re- 
quirements only,  and  the  profile  of  the  tunnel  lines,  to- 
gether with  the  yard  arrangements,  has  been  designed  for 
the  expeditious  and  safe  handling  of  the  large  volume  of 
passenger  traffic. 

The  requirements  include,  as  before  stated,  both 
through  and  local  service ;  the  former  involving  the  haul- 
ing of  the  heaviest  express  train  of  the  modern  railway, 
and  the  latter  both  light  and  heavy  excursion  and  local 
business. 

I*"or  the  through  service  the  locomotive  principle  of 
operation  will  be  adhered  to ;  the  steam  and  electric  loco- 
motives being  exchanged  upon  entering  the  zone  of  elec- 
tric operation. 


Electrical    Handbook  ii)S 

In  the  excursion  and  suburban  business  to  nearby 
towns  provision  will  be  made  for  either  the  locomotives 
or  the  multiple  unit  control  system,  the  project  being 
planned  to  give  the  greatest  flexibility  in  methods  of 
operation  so  as  best  to  meet  the  growing  demands  of 
increasing  population. 

In  the  locomotive  service  every  weight  of  train  from 
the  lightest  to  the  heaviest  must  be  provided  for,  so  that 
the  study  of  the  most  economical  electric  locomotive 
characteristics  has  been  necessary ;  moreover,  the  grades 
on  the  tunnel  lines  are  heavy  and  the  speeds  on  the  down 
grades  must  not  be  excessive  and  on  the  up  grades  must 
not  be  too  low.  The  attainment  of  a  reasonable  sched- 
ule under  the  conditions  imposed  has,  therefore,  added  to 
the  complexity  of  the  problem.  A  further  consideration 
and  a  very  important  one,  is  the  necessity  of  utilizing  to 
the  fullest  the  maximum  capacity  of  the  tunnel  lines  at 
rush  hours. 

ELECTRICAL  CONDITIONS 
Electric  power  for  traction  will  be  used  throughout  in 
the  tunnel  and  in  the  terminal  station.  Direct  current  at 
650  volts  will  be  used  at  the  cars.  The  power  will  be 
generated  at  three-phase  alternating  current  at  25  cycles 
and  11,000  volts  and  converted  to  direct  current  at  four 
substations,  one  in  New  Jersey,  one  in  ^lanhattan  and 
two  in  Long  Island. 

The  power  requirements  for  the  tunnel  work  only  are 
as  follows : 

Requirements 

for  Maximum 

Conditions, 

Kilowatts 

North  River  section  traction 5.200 

East  River  section  traction 12,000 

Switching  in  Manhattan  terminus 3.-00 

Total   29,400 

The  maximum  train  weight  in  the  North  River  sec- 
tion will  be  770  tons,  exclusive  of  the  locomotive :  in  the 
East  River  section  500  tons,  the  average  speed  from  start 


Kj6  The    N  e  IV    York 

to  stop  averaging  from  thirty  to  thirty-seven  miles  per 
hour,  depending  upon  the  weight  of  the  train.  The  max- 
imum speed  will  not  exceed  fifty-five  miles  per  hour. 

In  each  tunnel  conduits  are  imbedded  in  the  concrete 
benches.  On  one  side  the  power  conduits  are  placed, 
and  on  the  other  the  telephone  and  telegraph  conduits, 
all  with  manholes  every  400  feet.  The  conduit  system  is 
a  duplicate  one,  allowing  for  the  complete  duplication  of 
the  feeder  cables  in  each  section  of  the  system.  The  ar- 
rangement of  cables  between  power  house  and  substa- 
tions is  such  that  any  serious  delay  which  might  result 
from  an  accident  to  the  cables  in  one  tunnel  can  be 
avoided  by  transferring  the  load  in  that  tunnel  to  the 
cables  of  the  adjacent  tunnels  or  from  one  power  house 
to  another,  as  the  case  requires. 

The  number  of  ducts  in  each  tunnel  section  will  vary 
to  suit  the  requirements,  there  being  from  fifteen  to 
thirty-six  power  ducts  and  twenty-eight  to  forty  tele- 
phone ducts  per  tunnel.  The  total  number  of  duct  feet  of 
conduit  will  approximate  5,000,000  feet.  The  power 
ducts  are  to  be  intersected  every  half  mile  by  chambers, 
where  suitable  switches  will  be  placed  to  control  the  col- 
lector rail  feeders,  and  to  cross  connect  the  circuits  of  the 
adjacent  tunnels. 

ELECTRIC  LOCOMOTIVES 
A  study  of  all  the  conditions  has  led  to  the  adoption 
of  a  uniform  class  of  electric  locomotive,  having  such 
characteristics  that  a  single  locomotive  will  be  powerful 
enough  to  haul  the  lighter  trains,  which  compose,  say, 
75  per  cent,  of  the  number  of  trains  arriving.  For  heav- 
ier trains  it  is  the  intention  to  couple  two  locomotives 
and  operate  them  as  a  single  unit  upon  the  multiple  unit 
principle.  Two  locomotives  will  handle  the  heaviest  reg- 
ular train  now  brought  into  Jersey  City  by  steam,  and 
this  will  probably  be  the  heaviest  unit  advisable  to  handle 
over  the  tunnel  grades,  having  due  regard  to  the  existing 
draw  bar  attachments. 

As  the  work  upon  the  tunnels  and  terminals  must 
necessarily  extend  over  some  years,  it  was  determined 


Electrical    Handbook  i<pj 

that  the  question  of  suitable  electric  locomotive  design 
should  be  gone  into  most  systematically,  in  order  that  the 
equipment  furnished  for  regular  operation  should  be  as 
free  as  possible  from  defects  inseparable  from  the  devel- 
opment of  new  types, — in  other  words,  there  appeared  to 
be  an  opportunity  to  eliminate  by  service  experiments 
many  defects  prior  to  the  time  when  it  will  be  necessary 
to  order  the  equipment  for  operation.  Through  the  cour- 
tesy of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company  the  tun- 
nel line  of  that  company  in  Baltimore,  which  is  already 
equipped  for  electric  traction,  was  offered  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  Company  as  a  trial  ground  for  its  electric 
locomotives.  It  has,  therefore,  been  determined  to  build 
at  once  at  Altoona,  Pa.,  two  sample  locomotives  to  be 
placed  in  service  for,  say,  a  year's  time  on  the  Baltimore 
line. 

The  design  of  these  electric  locomotives  was  thought 
to  be  quite  as  much  a  mechanical  as  an  electrical  prob- 
lem, and  it  was,  therefore,  decided  to  combine  the  expe- 
rience of  the  officers  of  the  mechanical  department  of  the 
road  with  that  of  the  electric  manufacturing  companies 
in  working  it  out. 

At  present  writing  the  electrical  and  mechanical  de- 
sign has  been  completed  under  the  supervision  of  Mr. 
George  Gibbs  for  two  types  of  electric  locomotives,  ;.  c. 
one  having  geared  and  the  other  gearless  motors,  and  the 
construction  of  these  locomotives  will  shortly  begin  at 
Altoona. 

SCHEDULE 

As  stated  before,  it  is  desired  to  adopt  a  running  time 
which,  while  expeditious,  will  not  result  in  excessive 
speeds  on  the  down  grades.  In  the  attainment  of  this 
object,  motor  characteristics  of  the  Pennsylvania  loco- 
motives have  been  selected  so  that  the  maximum  speed 
possible  at  the  foot  of  the  tunnel  grades  will  not  exceed 
about  sixty  miles  per  hour.  The  attainable  schedule  for 
trains  of  average  weight  between  the  middle  point  of  the 
interchange  yard  and  the  middle  point  of  the  New  York 


iqS  The    X  CIV    York 

terminus,  a  distance  of  about  4.1  miles,  will  be  about  as 

follows,  the  time  including  starting  and  stopping: 

North  River  Division — 

East  bound  6  minutes,  50  seconds 

West  bound  7  minutes,  50  seconds 

East  River  Division — 

East  bound 8      minutes 

West  bound  GYz  minutes 

INTERCHANGE  YARD 
riie  design  of  the  interchange  yard  has  been  worked 
out  by  a  committee  of  operating  officers  of  the  road.  The 
pro])]em  involved  the  expeditious  exchanging  of  steam 
for  electric  power  and  vice  versa,  at  the  termination  of 
the  electric  runs.  It  is  obvious  that  the  yard  must  be 
capable  of  exchanging  power  at  certain  times  up  to  the 
limit  of  capacity  of  the  tunnels  on  a  basis  of  all  locomo- 
tive trains.  Thus  the  New  Jersey  yard  must  be  able  to 
despatch  trains  on  one  track  at  2i/4  minutes  headway  and 
receive  trains  on  another  track  at  the  same  interval.  The 
Long  Island  yard  having  four  main  tracks,  should  theo- 
retically have  twice  this  capacity.  The  two  yard  designs 
have  been  figured  for  the  above  maximum  capacity  and 
the  character  of  the  proposition  determined  therefrom, 
resulting  in  a  very  interesting  layout.  Since,  however, 
the  character  of  the  traffic  may  change  considerably  in  the 
time  required  for  the  completion  of  the  tunnels,  resulting 
in  cutting  down  the  proportion  of  locomotive  trains  and 
increasing  the  multiple  unit,  the  yards  have  been  laid  out 
for  building  in  sections. 

POWER  GENERATION 

In  considering  the  best  plan  of  power  generation  and 
distribution,  the  present  loading  and  future  possibilities 
for  extension  were  taken  into  account,  as  well  as  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  electrification, 
mentioned  under  another  heading.  The  safest  and  most 
flexible  method  appeared  to  be  the  establishment  of  two 
power  houses,  one  located  in  Long  Island  near  the  ferry 


Electrical    Handbook  i^Q 

terminal  and  another  at  Weehawken.  New  Jersey,  ad- 
joining the  tunnel  line  on  the  water  front. 

These  power  houses  will  be  designed  so  as  to  relay 
each  other  and  will  have  capacity  for  emergency  opera- 
tion of  the  entire  tunnel  system  and  the  Long  Island  Rail- 
road electrification  from  one  power  house  only. 

The  construction  of  the  New  Jersey  power  house  has 
not  yet  begun,  but  its  general  plan  and  equipment  will  be 
similar  to  that  of  the  Long  Lsland  City  house,  the  initial 
portion  of  which  is  well  under  way. 

The  New  Jersey  power  house  will  have  an  ultimate 
capacity  of  eight  5,500-Kw.  units.  The  Long  Island  City 
power  house  will  have  an  ultimate  capacity  of  twelve 
5,500-Kw.  units. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  both  power  houses  will  be 
equipped  with  separate  lighting  units  to  take  care  of  the 
important  requirement  of  reliable  lighting  of  the  tunnel 
lines  and  terminal  buildings. 

For  the  initial  equipment  to  operate  the  Atlantic  ave- 
nue division  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  the  Long  Island 
power  house  has  been  placed  under  construction  for  the 
generation  of  power  in  the  spring  of  1905.  The  building 
for  this  work  will  consist  of  one-half  of  the  eventual 
building  and  will  cover  a  ground  area  of  200  by  250  feet. 
This  portion  will  accommodate  six  5,500-Kw.  Westing- 
house-Parsons  turbo-generating  units,  of  which  three  will 
be  immediately  installed. 

At  the  present  time  (September,  1904)  the  work  on 
this  building  and  power  plant  is  well  advanced  so  that  the 
general  characteristics  can  be  inspected. 

LONG  ISLAND  RAILROAD  ELECTRIC 
TRACTION 
The  electrification  plans  of  this  company,  which  are  of 
immediate  interest,  are  those  connected  with  the  opera- 
tion of  the  Atlantic  avenue  division  rather  than  electric 
operation  in  connection  with  the  Manhattan  terminal 
project  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  which 
will  be  a  later  development. 

While  the  Long  Island  Railroad  has  its  main  terminus 


200  The   N  ezv    York 

at  Long  Island  City,  it  has  another  and  very  important 
terminus  at  the  junction  of  Atlantic  and  Flatbush  ave- 
nues in  Brooklyn. 

This  terminus  is  reached  by  double  track  railway  line 
from  Jamaica  to  Elast  New  York  and  thence  through  At- 
lantic avenue  to  Flatbush  avenue.  By  agreement  with 
the  city,  the  railroad  company  has  undertaken  to  remove 
its  tracks  from  the  surface  of  the  street  in  Atlantic  ave- 
nue and  place  them  in  a  subway  for  a  portion  of  the  dis- 
tance and  on  an  elevated  structure  for  another  portion, 
and  to  operate  passenger  trains  on  this  line  with  a  motive 
power  not  requiring  combustion  in  the  tunnels.  This  re- 
quirement obviously  pointed  to  electric  traction,  and  the 
early  completion  of  the  improvement  necessitates  the 
pushing  of  the  electrification  vigorousl}',  it  being  the  in- 
tention to  be  ready  for  operation  in  the  summer  of  1905. 

The  importance  of  these  plans  to  the  public  will  be 
seen  in  studying  the  local  transportation  facilities  exist- 
ing in  Brooklyn  and  in  connection  with  the  extension  of 
the  Rapid  Transit  subway,  now  under  process  of  con- 
struction, giving  track  connection  at  Flatbush  avenue 
with  the  great  system  of  rapid  transit  lines  of  the  bor- 
ough of  Manhattan  by  means  of  the  Flatbush  avenue  and 
Fulton  street  extension  and  the  tunnel  under  the  East 
River  to  the  Battery.  Upon  the  completion  of  all  these 
plans  a  short  line  will  be  available  for  passengers  to  and 
from  the  lower  end  of  ^lanhattan  Island  to  the  eastern 
district  of  the  borough  of  Brookhn  and  to  the  entire 
Long  Island  Railroad  system. 

From  an  inspection  of  a  map  showing  the  location  of 
the  Long  Island  Railroad  lines  it  would  appear  that  the 
Atlantic  avenue  electrification  may  be  considered  sepa- 
rate from  that  of  lines  to  be  connected  with  the  New 
York  terminus,  especially  as  the  early  completion  of  the 
Atlantic  avenue  improvement  necessitates  its  electric 
operation  long  in  advance  of  the  completion  of  the  New 
York  terminal  project. 

In  providing  for  the  early  electrification  of  this  route 
the  company  has  planned  for  the  progressive  extension  of 


r 


y 


•C) 


Map  of  the  Pennsylvania  Terminal  Railroad  and  Western  Lines  of  the  Long  Island  Rail- 
road,    i'ortion  to  be  converted  to   electricity    shown    hy    heavy  lines.     Connection  of 
Ave.  line  with  Interborough   Railway   System   also  shown  and  the  lines  o{ 
the  N'ew  York.  New  Haven  &  Hartford  R, 


\   ■ 


Electrical    Handbook  201 

this  method  of  operation  as  fast  as  connection  facihties 
at  the  various  terminals  will  warrant. 

The  initial  scheme  which  is  now  under  consideration 
may  be  described  as  follows : 

Electrification  of  the  Atlantic  avenue  line  from  Flat- 
bush  avenue  to  Jamaica  and  thence  to  Belmont  Park,  a 
distance  of  14.12  miles. 

Electrification  of  the  Rockaway  division  from  W'ood- 
haven  Junction  on  the  Atlantic  avenue  line  to  Rockaway 
Park,  a  distance  of  8.53  miles. 

Electrification  of  lines  from  Jamaica  to  ^letropolitan 
race  track,  a  distance  of  2.6  miles. 

The  total  mileage  reduced  to  single  track  mileage 
comprehended  in  the  present  electrification  plans  is  about 
eighty-six  miles. 

The  service  contemplated  will  include  all  business 
originating  and  terminating  at  Flatbush  avenue  to  and 
from  the  Atlantic  avenue  and  the  Rockaway  division. 
This  will  include  the  regular  suburban  service  between 
Flatbush  avenue  and  Jamaica  and  between  Flatbush  av- 
enue and  Rockaway  Beach ;  also  excursion  movement 
between  these  points,  which  latter  movement  includes  a 
heavy  business  from  Brooklyn  to  three  race  tracks. 

The  train  service  provided  for  will  be  much  heavier 
than  that  at  present  in  force  for  steam  service,  as  it  is 
intended  to  provide  for  the  maximum  capacity  over  the 
lines  which  may  be  required  for  the  growth  of  the  normal 
suburban  service  and  for  the  handling  of  special  excur- 
sion service. 

The  trains  will  be  operated  on  the  multiple  unit  prin- 
ciple, composed  of  motor  and  trailer  cars.  The  trains 
will  vary  in  length  from  two  to  eight  cars  each,  accord- 
ing to  the  traffic  requirements.  The  train  intervals  will 
also  vary  according  to  requirements,  up  to  the  minimum 
interval  of  about  2^/2  minutes,  which  is  the  maximum 
allowable  under  the  protection  of  the  automatic  block 
signal  system. 

Current  collection  will  be  by  means  of  a  protected 
third  rail,  laid  the  standard  distance  from  the  track  rail, 
adopted   by   this   road,   the   Pennsylvania   and   the   New 


202  The    N  c  IV    York 

York  Central,  namely  zy  inches  from  the  gauge  line  of 
track  to  the  centre  line  of  third  rail  and  with  top  of  rail 
3K>  inches  ahove  the  top  of  the  track  rail.  This  will  also 
allow  physical  connection  to  the  lines  of  the  Interborough 
System. 

The  current  will  be  supplied  from  the  Long  Island 
City  power  house,  from  which  A.  C.  current  at  11,000 
volts  potential  will  be  led  to  substations  for  transforma- 
tion and  conversion  into  D.  C.  current  at  650  volts.  Sub- 
stations will  be  located  at  the  following  points: 

Substation  No.   i — Near  Flatbush  avenue. 

No.  2 — At  East  New  York. 

No.  3 — At  Woodhaven  Junction. 
"  No.  4 — Near  Rockaway  Junction. 

"  No.  5 — At  Hammel. 

A  portable  substation,  for  race  movement,  will  be  lo- 
cated at  Belmont  Park  or  Metropolitan  race  track,  as 
required. 

For  these  substations,  now  under  construction,  there 
is  provided  an  initial  equipment,  built  by  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company,  as  follows  : 

Flatbush  Avenue — Three  i,ooo-Kw.  rotary  converters, 
with  nine  375-Kw.  transformers. 

East  New  York — Three  i,ooo-Kw.  rotary  converters, 
with  nine  375-Kw.  transformers. 

Woodhaven  Junction — Three  1,500-Kw.  rotary  con- 
verters, with  nine  550-Kw.  transformers. 

Rockaway  Junction — Two  1,000  Kw.  rotary  convert- 
ers, with  six  375-Kw.  transformers. 

Hammel — Two  i,ooo-Kw.  rotary  converters,  with  si.x 
375-Kw.  transformers  and  one  3,200-anipere  hour  storage 
battery. 

The  design  and  installation  of  the  electric  traction 
work  of  the  company  has  been  entrusted  to  Messrs. 
Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Company,  who  have 
planned  the  work  throughout  in  harmony  with  the  Penn- 
sylvania terminal  project.  The  general  supervision  of 
the  work  is  under  charge  of  a  committee  of  operating 
officers  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  Company,  of  which 


Electrical    Ha  ii  d  book  i'o ? 

]\Ir.  William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr.,  president,  is  chairman  and 
Mr.  George  Gibbs  electrical  engineer. 

At  the  present  writing,  the  work  of  installation  is 
proceeding  rapidly,  over  one  thousand  men  being  em- 
ployed in  the  field. 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CABLE 

CO  MP  ANT  AND   THE  POSTAL 

TELEGRAPH  COMPANY 


The  Commercial  Cable  Company  and 
the  Postal  Telegraph  Company 

THE  COMMERCIAL  CABLE  COMPANY 

THE  Commercial  Cable  Company  owns  and  op- 
erates between  Europe  and  America  four  com- 
plete transatlantic  cables  of  an  aggregate  length 
of  13,212  nautical  miles.  It  also  operates  the 
American  ends  of  two  direct  and  entirely  submarine 
cables  between  Germany  and  America  by  way  of  the 
Azores.  Two  of  its  own  cables  and  both  of  the  German 
cables  run  into  and  are  operated  from  the  Commercial 
Cable  Building.  The  main  operating  room  of  the  Com- 
mercial Cable  Building  is  in  direct  connection  by  means 
of  a  specially  strung  heavy  copper  wire  with  the  operat- 
ing room  of  the  Commercial  Pacific  Company's  cable  at 
San  Francisco  and  is  also  in  direct  wire  communication 
through  the  Postal  Telegraph  system  with  all  the  prin- 
cipal cities  of  the  United  States  and  with  Montreal  in 
Canada. 

The  Company  accepts  at  its  counters  in  the  Commer- 
cial Cable  Building  messages  for  transmission  by  cable 
to  Europe,  Asia,  Africa.  South  America  and  Australasia 
and  for  the  Hawaiian.  Ladrone  and  Philippine  Islands 
and  Asia  by  way  of  the  Pacific  Cable,  and  for  P.(m-- 
muda  and  the  West  Indies  by  way  of  the  Halifax 
and  Bermuda  and  direct  West  India  cables. 

The  Commercial  Cable  Building,  twenty-three  stories 
high,  is  situated  at  20  Broad  Street,  in  the  financial  cen- 
tre of  New  York.  On  one  side  it  adjoins  and  has  direct 
communication  with  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  the 
entrance  to  one  of  the  Stock  Exchange  Building's  ante- 
rooms being  located  in  the  main  corridor  of  the  Com- 
mercial Cable  Building.  It  was  erected  to  provide  a  per- 
207 


2o8  T  li  e    N  c  IV    York 

inanent  liome  for  the  Commercial  Cable  Company's  prin- 
cipal traffic  office.  The  two  lower  floors  of  the  building 
arc  used  exclusively  for  telegraphic  purposes,  but  the 
growth  of  the  Company's  business  has  been  so  rapid  that 
the  accommodation  already  seems  cramped  and  more 
space  will  have  to  be  provided  at  no  very  distant  date. 

The  cables  belonging  to  the  "Commercial"  system 
which  enter  New  York  are  landed  at  Coney  Island,  the 
Cable  Hut  being  situated  at  a  point  one  thousand  feet 
east  of  the  Oriental  Hotel.  The  ocean  cables  enter  the 
Hut  and  are  there  permanently  joined  to  specially  de- 
signed cables  leading  to  the  Company's  main  operating 
room.  The  route  followed  by  the  special  cables  is  across 
Sheepshead  Bay,  through  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  over 
the  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  through  lower  New  York  to 
No.  20  Broad  Street.  Through  the  Borough  of  Brook- 
lyn and  lower  New  York  these  cables  are  drawn  into 
and  through  iron  pipes  buried  about  two  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  streets.  On  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  they  are 
suspended  in  porcelain  insulators  clamped  to  the  frame- 
work of  the  Bridge.  This  line  of  cables  was  completed 
in  1898  and  the  work  was  so  thoroughly  planned  and 
carried  out  that  the  cables  have  been  in  uninterrupted 
and  satisfactory  operation  ever  since,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment affording  connections  for  five  ocean  cables.  In 
the  case  of  the  more  recent  ocean  cables,  in  order  to 
minimize  the  disturbing  influence  of  the  trolley  cur- 
rents as  much  as  possible  it  has  been  found  bene- 
ficial to  carrj'  a  second  core  ten  miles  out  to  s^a, 
and  there  connect  it  to  the  sheathing  of  the  cable. 
This  provides  an  earth  connection  as  free  as  pos- 
sible from  local  disturbances. 

The  operating  room  of  the  Broad  Street  office  is  sit- 
uated on  the  main  floor  and  is  separated  by  a  glass  screen 
from  a  corridor  which  passes  through  the  building  from 
Broad  Street  to  New  Street.  A  separate  table  is  pro- 
vided for  each  cable  circuit,  the  sending  and  receiving 
apparatus  being  arranged  on  opposite  sides.  Every  cir- 
cuit in  the  office  is  duplexed  and  provided  with  switches 


Electrical    Handbook 


2op 


Head  Office  of  the  Commercial  Cable  Company 
20  Broad  Street,  New  York 


210  The    New    York 

and  apparatus  for  sending  cither  automatically  or  by 
hand. 

In  mounting  the  recorders  special  measures  had  to  be 
taken  to  protect  them  from  possibility  of  mechanical  dis- 
turbances, due  to  the  vibration  of  the  building  or  the 
jarring  of  the  table.  In  order  to  accomplish  this,  a  large 
wrought  iron  pipe  is  fastened  by  means  of  a  flange  to  the 
floor  of  the  office.  Inside  this  pipe  is  placed  another  but 
smaller  one.  The  lower  end  of  this  inner  pipe  rests  on 
a  pad  of  soft  india  rubber  one  inch  thick  which  com- 
pletely fills  the  lower  end  of  the  larger  pipe.  To  prevent 
lateral  motion  of  the  inner  pipe  a  ring  of  half-inch  rub- 
ber tubing  separates  the  two  pipes  at  their  upper  end. 
The  platform  which  carries  the  recorder  has  fastened  to 
its  lower  side  a  third  pipe  which  can  slide  up  and  dowm 
inside  the  inner  of  the  two  pipes  mentioned  above.  This 
third  pipe  is  used  merely  to  adjust  the  height  of  the  re- 
corder to  any  desired  level.  This  method  has  been  found 
most  satisfactory  in  keeping  the  recorders  free  from  all 
vibration. 

The  Commercial  Cable  Company  has  eight  branch  of- 
fices in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  circuits  to  which  are 
supplied  with  current  from  storage  batteries,  of  which 
two  sets  are  provided,  so  that  in  case  of  accident  to  one 
set  the  other  is  always  ready  for  immediate  use.  As  a 
further  reserve,  the  motor  generators  used  for  charging 
the  storage  batteries  may  be  used  in  place  of  either  of 
them.  These  tw'o  sets  of  accumulators  are  also  used  to 
provide  current  for  the  motors  and  automatic  sending 
machines.  Provision  is  also  made  for  using  the  current 
either  from  the  lighting  plant  of  the  building  or  from 
the  Edison  Company's  mains,  and  as  a  last  resort  a  pri- 
mary battery  is  always  kept  ready  for  use.  Other  sets  of 
accumulators  are  used  to  provide  a  low  voltage  current 
for  the  vibrator  circuits,  etc.  All  these  accumulators  are 
charged  by  motor  generators  driven  by  current  taken 
from  the  light  and  power  mains  of  the  building. 

Primary  batteries  composed  of  Fuller's  cells  are  used 
as  main  line  batteries  on  the  ocean  cables.  It  is  inad- 
visable to  use  storage  batteries  for  this  purpose,  as  the 


Electrical    Handbook  211 

acid  spray  given  off  by  the  cells  during  charging  renders 
it  impossible  to  keep  the  batteries  sufficiently  well  insu- 
lated for  cable  duplex  circuits. 

At  the  inner  end  of  the  office  is  a  large  double  spring- 
jack  switchboard,  through  which  the  main  cable  office  is 
connected  with  the  branch  offices  and  with  the  extensive 
distributing  system  concentrated  in  the  chief  operating 
room  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  at  253  Broad- 
way. At  the  back  of  the  main  switchboard  is  located  a 
smaller  one,  to  which  all  the  cables  are  led.  Lodge  light- 
ning protectors  being  in  every  case  interposed  between 
the  switchboard  and  the  cable.  Leads  also  run  from  the 
switchboard  to  the  electrical  testing  room  on  the  nine- 
teenth floor. 

The  artificial  lines  used  to  duplex  the  various  cable 
circuits  are  located  in  a  room  in  the  basement  devoted 
solely  to  their  accommodation.  They  are  composed 
entirely  of  Aluirhead's  inductive  resistances,  with  the 
necessary  condensers  for  sending  and  receiving. 
The  artificial  lines  are  enclosed  in  air-tight  cases  to 
maintain  an  even  temperature  and  to  exclude  dust  and 
moisture. 

The  Commercial  Cable  Company  was  the  first  to  adopt 
automatic  sending  machines  and  to  employ  vibrators  gen- 
erally on  all  the  recorders  in  place  of  the  time  honored 
but  unreliable  "electrified  ink." 

The  types  of  automatic  transmitters,  paper  motors 
and  vibrators  used  in  this  office  are  all  designed  by  the 
Company's  chief  Electrician,  Mr.  Charles  Cuttriss.  The 
distinguishing  feature  of  Mr.  Cuttriss's  automatic  trans- 
mitter is  the  step  by  step  motion  imparted  to  the  punched 
slip  by  means  of  which  the  latter  is  kept  stationary  dur- 
ing the  transmission  of  each  signal.  The  transmitter  is 
not  connected  directly  to  the  cable  circuit,  but  operates 
in  local  circuit  a  set  of  electro-magnetic  cable  keys.  It  is 
driven  by  an  electric  motor  contained  in  the  same  case. 
The  speed  of  the  motor  is  controlled  by  a  simple  but  very 
effective  governor.  The  contacts  are  shunted  by  incan- 
descent lamps  to  prevent  sparking.  This  transmitter  is 
simple   in   construction,   and   the  various   working  parts 


212  The    N  CIV    York 

are  easily  accessible  for  cleaning  purposes.  It  is  ex- 
tremely reliable  and  satisfactory,  in  the  way  it  performs 
its  work. 

The  paper  motors  which  arc  used  for  drawing  the 
slip  off  the  writing  platform  of  the  recorders  and  across 
the  operator's  desk  are  also  very  reliable  in  their  opera- 
tion. The  speed  of  the  paper  is  adjustable  within  wide 
limits  and  is  maintained  at  any  required  value  by  means 
of  the  governor,  which  is  similar  in  action  to  that  used 
on  the  automatic  transmitter. 

There  are  two  forms  of  vibrator  used  in  this  office. 
Both  types,  however,  employ  the  same  form  of  inter- 
ruptor  by  means  of  which  the  rate  of  vibration  is  ad- 
justed. An  electro-magnet  causes  an  armature  to  oscil- 
late to  and  fro,  carrying  with  it  a  vertical  glass  tube, 
which  is  connected  by  a  flexible  rubber  tube  with  a 
small  reservoir  of  mercury.  By  means  of  a  screw,  a 
piston  can  be  raised  or  lowered  in  a  cylinder  connected 
with  the  reservoir,  and  the  height  of  the  mercury  in  the 
oscillating  tube  varied,  thus  affording  a  continuous  and 
convenient  method  of  adjusting  the  rate  of  oscillation. 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  are  a  few  combination 
instruments  which  are  used  solely  by  this  Company.  The 
most  important  provision  of  all  perhaps  is  the  ample  re- 
serve power  and  facilities  for  quick  response  to  emer- 
gency conditions.  These  reserve  and  alternative  appli- 
ances reduce  to  a  minimum  the  possibility  of  delay  to 
traffic  and  keep  the  system  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency. 

THE   POSTAL  TELEGRAPH   COMPANY 

The  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company  operates  land- 
lines  in  the  United  States  which  have  their  focus  in  the 
large,  well  equipped  operating  room  of  the  Company  in 
the  Postal  Telegraph  Building  at  253  Broadway,  oppo- 
site City  Hall,  New  York,  where  they  connect  with  the 
Atlantic  system  of  the  Commercial  Cable  Company,  and, 
radiating  from  New  York,  reach  every  important  place 
in  the  United  States,  making  connection  with  the  Com- 
mercial Pacific  cable  at  San  Francisco,  and  at  Montreal 
with  the  extensive  svsteni  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 


Electrical    Handbook  21^ 

way,  with  which  a  close  working  arrangement  is  main- 
tained. The  system  embraces  27,482  miles  of  pole  lines 
and  200,972  miles  of  wire. 

The  following  comparison  shows  the  remarkable 
growth  of  the  Company  in  the  last  ten  years  :  On  Janu- 
ary I,  1894,  the  Postal  system  exchanged  business  be- 
tween 6,260  offices,  and  on  January  i,  1904,  business  was 
exchanged  between  19,977  offices,  an  increase  in  ten  years 
of  13,717  offices. 

The  poles  of  the  trunk  lines  are  large  and  substantial, 
mainly  of  cedar,  forty  to  the  mile  (1.6  kilometres),  and 
the  wires  are  chiefly  of  hard  drawn  copper,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  which  weigh  300  pounds  (135  kilograms)  to 
the  mile,  the  balance  weighing  over  200  pounds  per  mile, 
excepting  a  few  specially  constructed  compound  wires 
having  a  steel  core  upon  which  copper  has  been  electro- 
deposited,  which  wires,  before  the  advent  of  hard  drawn 
copper  wire,  had  been  erected  between  New  York  and 
Washington,  Buffalo  and  Pittsburgh,  and  between  New 
York  and  St.  Louis  via  Chicago.  These  wires  have  a 
steel  core  weighing  200  pounds  per  mile,  and  two  wires 
between  New  York  and  Washington  have  a  copper  de- 
posit upon  the  steel  of  300  pounds  per  mile,  and  two 
wires  New  York  to  Chicago,  a  distance  of  1,000  miles, 
and  one  wire  Chicago  to  St.  Louis,  a  distance  of  300 
miles,  have  a  copper  deposit  of  over  500  pounds  per  mile, 
averaging  a  resistance  of  1.8  ohms  per  mile;  and  un- 
doubtedly possessing  the  highest  conductivity  and  hav- 
ing cost  more  than  any  aerial  wires  ever  put  up  for  tele- 
graph communication.  The  poles  vary  in  length  from 
30  feet  (9  metres),  set  five  feet  in  the  ground,  to  65 
feet,  set  eight  feet  in  the  ground. 

The  wires  are  suspended  upon  one  or  more  well  sea- 
soned pine  cross-arms,  as  may  be  necessary.  Each  cross- 
arm  is  bolted  in  a  gain  cut  in  the  side  of  the  pole,  and 
is  also  supported  in  position  by  a  pair  of  iron  braces,  the 
ends  of  which  are  brought  together  and  bolted  to  the 
pole,  forming  a  V.  Where  more  than  one  arm  exists 
the  next  arm  is  placed  parallel  at  a  vertical  distance  of 
two  feet. 


2J4  T  h  c    X  c  w    y  o  r  k 

Ihc  insulators  are  double  petticoat  glass,  weighing 
eacli  1.125  pounds,  supported  upon  the  cross-arm  by  pins 
which  are  placed  1.5  feet  apart.  Lightning  rods  of  wire 
are  conducted  from  the  earth  at  the  foot  of  the  pole  and 
are  attached  thereto  by  staples  extending  above  the  top 
about  4  inches  ( 10  centimetres) .  Notwithstanding  the  bet- 
ter insulating  qualities  of  porcelain  during  wet  weather, 
it  is  found  as  satisfactory  and  more  economical  to  em- 
ploy the  glass  insulators,  for  the  reason  that  the  average 
climatic  conditions  upon  the  American  Continent  are 
such  that  long  continued  rains  and  fogs  are  confined  to 
very  limited  areas,  and  wires  are  seldom  rendered  un- 
workable by  reason  of  insufficient  insulation  of  the  glass 
during  rain  storms.  It  is  also  found,  where  new  porce- 
lain insulators  are  put  up  near  railroad  tracks,  that  in  a 
few  months  the  locomotive  smoke  forms  a  coating  upon 
the  surface  of  the  porcelain  which  reduces  its  insulating 
qualities  to  that  of  glass  insulators  similarly  situated. 

The  standard  for  minimum  insulation  upon  the  trunk 
lines  of  this  Company  is  100  megohms  per  mile  in  dry 
weather. 

Joints  in  the  hard  drawn  copper  wires  are  made  by 
the  use  of  copper  sleeves,  which  are  practically  two  tubes 
six  inches  in  length  placed  side  by  side  and  brazed  to- 
gether. The  two  ends  of  the  wires  to  be  joined  are 
placed  respectively  in  these  tubes  and  the  sleeves  are 
given  three  complete  twists  with  a  steel  wrench.  This 
joint  requires  no  solder  and  wires  so  jointed  have  been 
found  to  have  as  good  electrical  contact  at  the  end  of 
fifteen  years  as  when  the  joint  was  first  made. 

The  hard  drawn  copper  wires  employed  have  a  resist- 
ance as  follows : 

.300  pounds  (135  kgs.)  per  mile,  3  ohms  per  mile  at  60° 
Fahr. 

208  pounds  (93.6  kgs.)  per  mile,  4.22  ohms  per  mile  at 
60°  Fahr. 

In  the  principal  portions  of  all  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  such  as  New  York.  Chicago,  Philadelphia.  St. 
Louis.  Boston,  Baltimore  and  Cleveland,  this  Company's 
wires  are  carried  in  subways  beneath  the  streets  in  lead 


Electrical    Handbook  21^ 


Head  Office  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company 
253  Broadway.  Xew  York 


2i6  The    N  e  zv    York 

covered  cables,  which  connect  the  stations  in  cities  with 
the  interurban  aerial  lines,  and  foot  up  more  than  200 
miles  in  length,  containing  a  total  of  over  10,000  miles  of 
conductors. 

The  \vires  are  arranged  as  direct  circuits  connecting 
the  various  commercial  centres  of  the  country,  and  are 
operated  exclusively  by  the  American  Morse  system,  the 
messages  being  directly  transmitted  manually  by  the 
sending  operator  through  the  medium  of  the  electrical 
dots  and  dashes.  The  receiving  operator  translates  the 
dots  and  dashes  by  sound,  copying  them  in  full  by  the 
typewriter,  which  is  extensively  used,  or  by  pen  upon  the 
usual  telegraph  blanks.  These  messages  are  copied  by  a 
facsimile  process,  enveloped  and  delivered  bj-  messenger 
to  the  addressee. 

The  operation  of  the  wires  by  the  Morse  system  is 
upon  the  simplex,  duplex  or  quadruplex  plan,  according 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  traffic,  the  single  wires  being 
worked  upon  what  is  termed  the  closed-circuit  plan.  For 
instance,  a  wire  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
operated  as  a  way  circuit,  will  have  sufficient  electro- 
motive force  supplied  at  these  stations  for  the  operation 
of  Morse  relays  having  a  standard  resistance  of  150  ohms 
each.  Such  a  relay  with  a  key  is  placed  not  only  at  the 
terminal  stations,  but  a  set  is  included  in  the  wire  at 
each  intermediate  station  that  may  be  required  to  trans- 
mit its  business  over  the  wire,  no  current  being  required 
at  any  intermediate  point  for  the  operation  of  the  main 
circuit.  Between  any  two  points  having  busin.ess,,en6ugh 
to  exceed  the  capacity  of  more  than  one  .single  wire, 
duplex  or  quadruplex  apparatus  is  used. 

In  case  cities  are  more  than  500  miles  and  less  than 
1,000  miles  apart,  it  is  usual  to  employ  a  set  of  automatic 
repeaters  upon  each  circuit,  whether  single,  duplex  or 
quadruplex,  with  an  extra  supply  of  current  about  mid- 
way of  the  circuit,  to  obviate  the  use  of  high  potential 
transmitting  currents  at  the  extreme  ends  of  the  circuit. 
Chemical  batteries,  which  at  one  time  were  exclusively 
employed  for  furnishing  current  for  the  operation  of  main 
wires,  have,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  been  almost  en- 


Electrical    Handbook  2iy 

tirely  replaced  by  dynamos,  except  for  minor  local  pur- 
poses. These  dynamo  machines  are  located  at  the  prin- 
cipal main  stations  of  the  Company  (such  as  New  York, 
Chicago,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Buffalo,  Pittsburgh,  St. 
Louis,  Washington,  Atlanta,  New  Orleans  and  San  Fran- 
cisco), in  all  including  about  fifty-six  stations.  At  each 
of  these  stations  there  are  nine  motor  dynamos  in  opera- 
tion, the  motor  side  being  operated  by  any  convenient 
electric  light  or  power  current  of  suitable  voltage,  usu- 
ally the  same  current  which  furnishes  light  and  powct 
for  the  building  in  which  the  machines  are  situated. 
These  dynamo  machines  furnish  for  the  operation  of  the 
wires  currents  of  the  following  voltages : 


40  + 

80  + 

80 

120  -f- 

120 

200  + 

200 

375  + 

375 

One  brush  of  the  armature  in  each  machine  is  connected 
to  the  earth.  The  forty-volt  currents  are  used  for  all 
local  purposes  and  for  short  branch  wires  in  cities.  The 
higher  potentials  are  used  for  the  operation  of  the  ap- 
paratus upon  the  main  wires,  200  volts  being  used  for 
very  long,  high  resistance  single  circuits,  and  also  for 
duplexes,  and  375  volts  being  used  exclusively  in  the 
operation  of  the  quadruplexes. 

Between  the  various  apparatus  and  the  dynamos  at 
each  station  there  are  inserted  inductanceless  resistance 
coils  of  at  least  two  ohms  to  the  volt,  of  suitable  capacity 
to  protect  the  switchboards  and  other  apparatus  from 
any  damage  by  heating  as  the  result  of  accidental 
short-circuits. 

Beside  the  transmission  of  the  large  volume  of  public 
telegrams  which  are  handed  in  to  this  Company  daily 
over  its  counters  and  through  its  messenger  service,  a 
very  extended  service  is  performed  by  its  direct  wires 
between  the  various  stock,  cotton  and  produce  exchanges 
of  the  large  commercial  cities,  the  apparatus  being  so 
placed  in  each  case  as  to  bring  the  members  of  the  va- 


2  [8  T  h  c    X  c  -a)    York 

rious  exchanges  in  direct  and  instant  communication 
with  one  another.  Also  many  wires  are  leased  to  news 
associations  and  private  customers,  connecting  them 
with  their  agents  in  all  principal  cities. 

Direct  circuits  are  worked  daily  from  New  York  to 
San  Francisco,  a  distance  of  3,250  miles ;  to  New  Or- 
leans, a  distance  of  1,334  miles;  to  St.  Louis,  a  distance 
of  1,048  miles;  to  Atlanta,  a  distance  of  882  miles;  to 
Chicago,  a  distance  of  900  miles,  and  to  many  other 
points.  These  distances  contrast  strongly  with  the  usual 
length  of  circuits  elsewhere. 

The  extensive  use  of  superior  hard  drawn  copper 
wires,  the  resistance  of  which  is  less  than  one-sixth  that 
of  iron  of  the  same  gauge,  the  improvement  in  insulation 
and  in  the  construction  of  apparatus,  the  betterment  of 
poles  and  fixtures,  and  the  large  increase  in  the  use  by 
the  receiving  operators  of  typewriting  machines  since 
their  first  introduction  twenty  years  ago.  have  all  con- 
tributed to  the  improvement  in  the  service  and  a  higher 
traffic  capacity  of  the  wires. 

The  following  records  of  speed  in  Morse  transmis- 
sion, which  a  few  years  ago  would  have  been  marvellous, 
are  now  an  almost  daily  achievement :  Between  New 
York  and  Chicago,  on  one  side  of  a  quadruplex,  nearly 
I, coo  miles.  i.cxDi  telegrams  of  thirty  words  were  trans- 
mitted between  9  A.  M.  and  5.30  P.  M.  Of  these,  552 
passed  from  New  York  to  Chicago  in  eight  hours  and 
five  minutes.  From  Chicago  to  San  Francisco,  2,700 
miles,  one  operator  sent  526  ordinary  thirty-word  tele- 
grams between  8  A.  M.  and  5  P.  M.,  being  sixty  per 
hour.  A  quadruplex  between  New  York  and  Boston 
carries  2,000  thirty-word  telegrams  from  8  A.  ^I.  to  5.30 
P.  M.  daily. 

The  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company  occupies  spa- 
cious offices  in  all  the  important  cities.  The  main  office, 
at  No.  253  Broadway,  New  York,  is  in  a  building  which 
was  erected  specially  for  telegraph  purposes,  and  its  con- 
veniences and  arrangements  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  public  and  the  prompt  handling  of  the  Company's 
large  and  constantly  increasing  business,  as  well  as  the 


Electrical    Handbook  2H^ 

extensive  underground  cable  system  in  New  York  City, 
fairly  illustrate  the  character  and  equipment  of  the  Com- 
pany's offices  elsewhere. 

The  first  or  ground  floor  of  the  main  office,  contain- 
ing the  receiving  and  delivery  departments  of  the  Com- 
pany, is  beautifully  finished  in  marble,  the  design  of  the 
staircase  extending  from  the  first  to  the  second  floor 
being  of  exceptional  merit.  The  ninth  and  tenth  floors 
are  used  for  the  Postal  Telegraph- Cable  Company's  ex- 
ecutive offices.  The  eleventh  floor  is  occupied  by  the 
President  and  officials  of  the  commercial  cables.  The 
twelfth  floor  is  used  for  the  main  operating  room  and  is 
equipped  with  the  latest  type  of  apparatus,  with  the  most 
convenient  arrangement  of  tables  and  switchboards. 

The  operating  tables  accommodating  the  instru- 
ments requisite  for  the  transmission  and  reception  of 
telegrams  are  arranged  to  hold  apparatus  necessary 
for  eight  single  Morse  wires,  or  four  duplexed  or  two 
quadruplexed  wires,  seating  eight  operators,  four  on 
each  side.  These  tables  are  distributed  throughout 
the  room  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford  ample  aisle 
space  for  the  operators,  and  to  insure  a  quick  distribu- 
tion and  collection  of  telegrams  to  and  from  the 
various  operators. 

The  whole  floor  is  divided  into  districts  containing 
four  tables  to  each  district,  and  from  a  central  point  in 
each  district  a  pneumatic  tube  communicates  with  the 
gallery  located  in  the  centre  of  the  room  over  the  switch- 
boards. All  messages  arriving  over  the  wires  are  trans- 
mitted to  the  central  station  in  the  gallery  and  are  there 
assorted,  and  distributed  through  the  pneumatic  tubes 
for  retransmission  over  the  wires  in  whatever  district 
such  wires  are  located,  unless  the  messages  are  to  be  de- 
livered from  253  Broadway,  in  which  case  such  messages 
are  transmitted  through  pneumatic  tubes  from  the  gal- 
lery to  the  delivery  department,  where  they  are  recorded, 
placed  in  envelopes  and  despatched  to  destination  by 
messenger. 

Beside  the  large  number  of  messages  which  are  being 
sent  and  received  directly  by  the  operators  in  this  oper- 


220  The    N  czv    York 

ating  room,  there  is  an  immense  volume  of  traffic  that  is 
being  automatically  transmitted  through  the  room  be- 
tween the  large  branch  offices  in  New  York  (such  as  the 
Stock,  Produce  and  Cotton  Exchanges)  and  the  main  or 
branch  offices  in  other  cities. 

The  various  trunk  line  wires  are  brought  into  New 
York  City  from  the  west  under  the  Hudson  River  by 
subaqueous  cables,  and  thence  by  underground  cables 
under  the  streets  to  a  terminal  room  in  the  basement  of 
the  Postal  Telegraph  Building  at  253  Broadway.  The 
wires  from  the  north  and  east  are  brought  through  un- 
derground cables  from  the  Harlem  River  to  the  same 
point,  and  after  passing  through  necessary  protective  de- 
vices, reach  the  operating  room  on  the  twelfth  floor, 
where  they  are  connected  directly  to  switchboards  pro- 
vided with  springjacks,  which  allow  the  instruments  and 
dynamo  currents  to  be  connected  with  the  wires  as  may 
be  necessary. 

The  switchboards  are  connected  with  the  various  ex- 
changes and  branch  offices  in  the  same  manner  by  under- 
ground cables. 

Each  switchboard  is  arranged  to  contain  fifty  line 
wires,  which  is  the  maximum  number  that  it  is  possible 
for  two  chief  operators  to  supervise. 

Directly  in  front  of  the  switchboards  are  located  the 
automatic  repeaters  which  perform  the  function  of  for- 
warding through  from  one  wire  to  another,  or  from 
branch  offices  through  to  a  distant  city,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  receiving  or  sending  operators.  These  re- 
peaters are  in  the  care  of  repeater  chief  operators. 

The  pneumatic  tubes,  which  largely  replace  messen- 
gers in  collecting  and  distributing  messages  in  different 
parts  of  the  room,  are  operated  upon  the  reservoir  sys- 
tem. A  reservoir  is  kept  automatically  at  a  pressure  of 
about  two  pounds,  in  the  engine  room,  and  pipes  are  led 
from  this  reservoir  to  both  ends  of  a  tube  which  is  nor- 
mally open,  but  the  air  pressure  pipe  connecting  with  the 
tube  is  kept  closed  by  a  valve.  Carriers,  therefore,  can 
be  despatched  in  either  direction  through  the  tube.  Shut- 
ting a  small  lid  at  one  end  closes  the  pipe  and  also  the 


Electrical    Handbook  221 

circuit  of  an  electro-magnet  which  holds  the  lid  closed, 
and  at  the  same  time  automatically  turns  on  the  air 
pressure  behind  the  carrier  placed  in  the  tube.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  carrier  at  the  distant  end  of  the  tube,  it 
touches  a  small  lever  which  causes  the  local  circuit  of  the 
holding  magnet  at  the  sending  end  to  be  released,  thus 
allowing  the  lid  to  open  and  the  valve  to  close  the  air 
pipe,  shutting  off  the  air  pressure.  This  insures  a  very 
rapid  service  and  also  an  economical  one,  as  the  tube  is 
utilized  for  transmission  of  carriers  in  both  directions, 
as  no  compressed  air  is  consumed  except  during  the 
time  the  carriers  are  actually  in  transit.  At  night  and 
during  Sunday,  when  the  traffic  is  small,  the  expenditure 
of  energy  for  operating  the  tubes  is  decreased,  the  rule 
being  that  it  is  directly  proportioned  to  the  volume  of 
traffic. 

The  underground  cables  used  by  the  Company  have 
copper  conductors  64  mils.  (1.62  mms.)  diameter,  with  a 
minimum  of  98  per  cent,  purity,  insulated  with  three 
wrappings  of  best  grade  of  paper  fibre  to  a  diameter  of 
^V  of  an  inch,  thoroughlj'  saturated  with  insulating  com- 
pound. The  lead  sheath,  containing  3  per  cent,  of  tin,  is 
y?,  of  an  inch  thick,  and  when  the  cable  has  been  laid  each 
conductor  is  required  to  have  an  insulation  of  300  meg- 
ohms per  mile  at  60°  F.,  with  100  volts  applied  for  one 
minute.  The  decrease  of  the  dielectric  resistance  by  an 
increase  of  temperature  is  ascertained  bj'  a  table  of  co- 
efficients which  has  been  determined  by  experiment.  The 
diameter  of  the  underground  ducts  in  the  subways  av- 
erages three  inches,  which  will  easily  admit  a  cable  of 
this  kind  containing  125  conductors. 

Subaqueous  cables  are  usually  composed  of  seven  con- 
ductors, each  conductor  composed  of  seven  No.  21  BWG 
(.81  mms.)  wires  of  a  minimum  of  98  per  cent,  pure 
copper  per  T^fatthiessen's  standard,  and  each  conductor 
insulated  to  -§^  of  an  inch  with  the  highest  grade  of 
Para  rubber  compound.  The  dielectric  of  each  conductor 
is  subjected  in  water  after  twenty-four  hours'  immersion 
to  a  strain  of  not  less  than  2,000  volts,  applied  for  one 
minute,  and  to  show  an  insulation  resistance  of  not  less 


222  The    N  c  IV    Y  o  r  k 

tli;in  1,000  megohms  per  mile  per  conductor,  with  100 
volts  applied  for  one  minnte  at  a  temperature  of  75°  F. 
The  conductors  are  laid  up  spirally  in  the  usual  manner, 
with  an  outside  layer  of  prepared  tape  and  with  proper 
jute  bedding,  and  are  protected  by  a  suitable  galvanized 
iron  wire  armor. 

The  aerial  cables  of  the  Company  are  composed  of 
No.  14  B.  &  S.  gauge  (64  mils.,  1.62  mms.  diameter) 
copper  wire,  at  least  98  per  cent,  pure,  per  Matthiessen's 
standard,  insulated  with  high  grade  of  Para  rubber  com- 
pound to  a  diameter  of  -5^  of  an  inch.  The  conductors 
are  laid  up  in  the  usual  manner  with  a  marking  wire  in 
each  layer.  The  first  seven  wires  are  laid  up  with  cush- 
ioning strands  of  soft  jute  yarn  and  are  wrapped  with  a 
cotton  tape  well  saturated  with  a  waterproof  insulating 
compound.  Between  the  outside  layer  and  the  final  out- 
side covering,  a  layer  of  jute  yarn  y^  of  an  inch  thick  is 
applied  spirally  and  well  coated  with  waterproof  insu- 
lating compound  to  resist  the  ingress  of  moisture,  and 
over  this  a  serving  of  well  lapped  waterproof  tape,  the 
whole  being  protected  from  the  weather  by  a  closely 
woven  coat  of  cotton  yarn,  which  is  also  thoroughly  sat- 
urated with  a  weather-resisting  compound.  Each  con- 
ductor is  required  to  have  a  minimum  insulation  of  500 
megohms  per  mile  at  75°  F.  with  100  volts  applied  for 
one  minute  when  all  the  other  conductors  in  the  cable 
are  connected  to  the  earth. 

The  underground  paper  insulated  cables  are  connected 
at  their  terminals  to  short  lengths  of  a  special  make  of 
terminal  cable,  containing  an  equal  number  of  conduct- 
ors. The  conductors  are  each  51  mils,  in  diameter,  of 
pure  copper  wire,  and  insulated  to  a  diameter  of  116 
mils,  with  a  good  grade  of  rubber  compound  containing 
not  less  than  40  per  cent,  of  pure  Para  rubber,  over  which 
is  placed  a  good  braid  of  the  best  quality  of  cotton,  thor- 
oughly saturated  with  the  highest  grade  of  preservative 
compound.  The  braid  is  of  a  thickness  of  12  mils.,  the 
diameter  over  all  being  5^  of  an  inch,  and  the  conduct- 
ors are  laid  up  as  usual  with  a  marking  wire  in  each 
layer,  and  after  being  surrounded  with  a  weather-pro- 


Electrical    Handbook  22^ 

tecting  rubber  lined  tape  of  12  mils,  thickness,  of  wide 
lap,  the  whole  is  enclosed  in  a  lead  sheath  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  thick,  containing  3  per  cent,  of  tin.  The  con- 
ductors of  this  terminal  cable  are  connected  directly  to 
the  conductors  of  the  paper  cable  in  the  usual  manner, 
with  soldered  joints,  and  after  being  properly  protected 
by  thin  insulating  braid,  the  joints  are  enclosed  by  a 
sleeve  of  lead,  which  is  soldered  to  the  lead  sheaths  of 
both  the  paper  cable  and  the  special  terminal  cable.  This 
prevents  the  moisture  from  getting  access  to  the  highly 
absorbent  paper  insulation  and  permits  the  conductors 
insulated  with  the  rubber  compound  to  have  the  lead 
sheath  cut  away  at  the  indoor  terminal  and  the  rubber 
insulated  conductors  connected  directly  to  the  frames  in 
the  terminal  rooms  of  the  offices. 

The  Company  maintains  an  extensive  system  for  the 
sighting  of  all  incoming  steamships  and  of  reporting  the 
anticipated  time  of  their  arrival  at  the  dock  to  customers 
at  any  stations  reached  by  its  lines  and  connections.  For 
this  service  a  moderate  charge  is  made.  Observers  are 
stationed  at  Fire  Island,  the  Highlands  of  Navesink, 
Sandy  Hook,  Quarantine  and  City  Island,  and  informa- 
tion relating  to  arriving  vessels  is  promptly  furnished  to 
steamship  agents,  owners  and  others  who  may  desire  it. 

Direct  exchange  of  messages  is  also  made  by  the 
Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company  with  several  wireless 
coast  stations,  at  which  wireless  communications  are  sent 
to,  and  received  from,  outgoing  or  incoming  vessels  fitted 
with  the  wireless  apparatus. 

Telegraphic  transfers  of  money  are  made  for  custom- 
ers between  all  important  offices  in  the  system,  in  amounts 
not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars  for  one  customer  in 
one  day  between  first  class  offices,  and  in  smaller  sums 
to  other  offices,  which  are  arranged  into  four  classes 
according  to  their  commercial  importance. 


"BIlOOKLrN    IIAPID    TI^ANSIT 
COMPANY 


Brooklyn  Rapid   Transit  Company 

BROOKLYN,  the  largest  in  area  of  the  five  bor- 
oughs of  New  York  city,  has  unquestionably  one 
of  the  most  complex  transportation  systems  in 
the  world.  Practically  all  of  the  street  car  lines 
in  Brooklyn  are  operated  by  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  Company,  which  carries  nearly  one  million  pas- 
sengers daily.  Two-thirds  of  this  traffic  is  carried  by 
the  surface  cars  and  one-third  by  the  cars  on  the  ele- 
vated railway  lines.  The  large  number  of  passen- 
gers carried  by  the  elevated  lines,  compared  with  the 
track  mileage  and  the  number  of  cars  running  on  these 
lines,  emphasizes  the  value  of  trains  as  contrasted  with 
single  cars  in  handling  a  great  volume  of  traffic.  No 
other  terminus  on  the  globe  lands  and  embarks  as  many 
passengers  as  the  Manhattan  end  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge. 
One  hundred  and  ten  million  people  are  carried  across 
this  bridge  yearly  by  cars  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit 
Company.  Every  day  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
people  are  carried  across  the  structure.  Five  cars  per 
minute— two  hundred  and  ninety  cars  per  hour — 
cross  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  on  the  surface  lines  alone 
during  the  "rush  hours,"  mornings  and  evenings,  when 
the  flood  of  traffic  is  at  its  height.  During  these 
hours  cars  are  crossing  the  bridge  every  twelve  seconds. 
Hourly  264  elevated  cars  cross  the  bridge.  More  than 
half  of  the  entire  number  of  passengers  carried  on  the 
surface  and  elevated  lines  across  the  bridge  are  engaged 
in  business  in  Manhattan  and  live  in  Brooklyn.  The 
great  improvements  in  transportation  facilities  and  the 
possibility  of  reaching  a  suburban  home  at  a  uniform  cost 
of  five  cents  have  resulted  in  the  rapid  increase  in  the 
number  of  residences  in  the  outlying  districts  of  the  Bor- 
ough of  Brooklyn,  where  ground  and  house  rents  are 
lower  than  in  Manhattan. 

227 


228  T  h  c    N  CIV    y  o  r  k 

'I  1k'  lines  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  system  ra- 
diate from  several  points  on  the  Long  Island  shores  of 
the  East  River.  Owing  to  the  daily  morning  and  even- 
ing tide  of  traffic  to  and  from  the  Borough  of  Manhattan, 
there  is  congestion  at  points  where  the  various  lines  con- 
verge. 

At  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  as  already  indicated,  the 
greatest  congestion  occurs.  Congestion,  but  not  to  the 
same  extent,  occurs  at  the  Broadway  ferries  in  Williams- 
burg. A  large  part  of  this  traffic  will  in  future  be  over 
tile  Williamsburg  Bridge  across  the  East  River,  recently 
completed  but  not  yet  ready  for  surface  and  elevated  rail- 
way cars.  Other  points  of  congestion  are  at  the  ferry 
landings  at  Eulton  street,  at  Atlantic  avenue,  and  at  sim- 
ilar places. 

One  of  the  most  crowded  street  car  crossings  in  the 
world  is  to  be  found  at  the  intersection  of  Fulton,  Wil- 
loughby  and  Adams  streets  and  Boerum  place,  where 
many  different  lines  intersect.  Here  552  cars  per  hour 
cross  one  point  in  six  directions.  The  Brookljm  Rapid 
Transit  Company  owns  and  operates  529  miles  of  track, 
of  which  461  miles  are  surface  and  68  miles  elevated 
tracks.  Over  these  tracks  are  operated  1,600  surface  and 
652  elevated  cars. 

Traffic  conditions  in  Brooklyn  are  peculiar.  Besides 
acting  in  part  as  a  dormitory  for  Manhattan,  the  Bor- 
ough of  Brooklyn  includes  within  its  limits  the  chief  sum- 
mer resorts  of  New  York  City.  Of  these  the  most  impor- 
tant is  Coney  Island,  which  has  every  variety  of  amuse- 
ment from  horse  racing  to  sea  bathing.  The  Brighton 
Beach  Hotel,  with  several  hundred  rooms  and  splendid 
bathing  facilities,  is  owned  and  managed  by  the  Brooklyn 
Rapid  Transit  Company.  Other  resorts  reached  by  this 
Companj^'s  lines  and  frequented  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  people  during  the  season  are  North  Beach.  Canarsie, 
Bergen  Beach  and  Bath  Beach.  Prospect  Park  and  some 
200  smaller  parks  and  picnic  grounds  scattered  through- 
out the  outlying  portions  of  the  borough,  together  with 
three  race  tracks  and  baseball  grounds,  are  also  easily 
reaclird  1>\   trdllcv  or  elevated  lines. 


Electrical    II  a  n  d  h  o  o  k  22q 

In  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn  there  are  great  traffic 
fluctuations.  Weather  conditions  have  a  marked  effect 
on  the  numher  of  excursionists.  On  pleasant  days  in  the 
summer  the  traffic  is  twenty  per  cent,  greater  than  on  a 
rainy  day.  On  pleasant  Sundays,  the  traffic  is  fully  250 
per  cent,  greater  than  on  rainy  Sundays.  These  fluctua- 
tions in  traffic  keep  the  transportation  department  con- 
tinually at  work  laying  out  schedules  to  fit  the  conditions 
that  arise.  Business  is  mainly  regulated  by  a  system  of 
minimum  time  tables.  These  are  increased  when  desired 
by  a  system  of  "patches"  or  sections  of  the  time  table 
which  increase  the  service  as  needed. 

To  accommodate  the  vast  throngs  which  on  pleasant 
days  desire  transportation  to  the  seashore  taxes  the  car- 
rying capacity  of  elevated  and  surface  lines  of  the  Brook- 
lyn Rapid  Transit  Company  to  the  utmost.  As  many  as 
375,000  people  in  one  day  visit  Coney  Island  and  other 
seashore  resorts  nearby.  To  West  Brighton,  or  Coney 
Island  proper,  seven  surface  and  five  elevated  lines  are 
operated.  Four  surface  and  one  elevated  line  run  to 
Brighton  Beach,  and  two  surface  and  one  elevated  line 
are  operated  to  Manhattan  Beach.  This  gives  to  the  va- 
rious lines  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company  a 
total  carrying  capacity  of  some  40,000  people  an  hour. 
The  elevated  structures  do  not  extend  to  Coney  Island. 
Trains  run  to  that  resort  over  surface  tracks.  This  year 
the  terminal  facilities  at  Coney  Island  have  been  remod- 
eled and  greatly  improved.  Thousands  of  dollars  have 
been  spent  in  improvements  at  the  Culver  Terminal. 

Because  of  the  rapid  increase  in  population  and  the 
still  more  rapid  increase  in  passenger  traffic  the  power 
situation  in  Brooklyn  presents  difficult  problems.  For 
the  ten  years  ending  in  19CO  Brooklyn  increased  thirty- 
nine  per  cent,  in  population.  But  the  number  of  passen- 
gers was  more  than  doubled.  Power  for  operating  cars 
of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  system  is  supplied  from 
seven  power  stations.  Of  these  the  central  power  sta- 
tion, with  32,000  horse  power  capacity,  is  the  largest ;  the 
smallest  is  the  Montague  street  cable  power  house,  with 
225  horse  power  capacity.     Owing  to  their  having  been 


i>50  The    N  ezv    York 

l)iiilt  ;il  cliffercnt  times  and  by  different  companies  prior  to 
the  consolidation  of  the  transportation  interests,  the  sev- 
eral power  stations  differ  widelj'  in  type  and  size.  The 
electric  generating  system  is  partly  direct  and  partly  al- 
ternating current,  with  static  transformers  and  rotary 
converters  in  six  different  substations.  Alternating  current 
apparatus  and  steam  turbines  will  be  used  in  all  probabil- 
ity in  future  extensions  of  the  power  system.  The  new 
central  power  station  is  remarkable  because  of  the  eco- 
nomical arrangement  of  machinery  as  regards  space  and 
from  the  fact  that  both  direct  and  alternating  current  is 
supplied.  Six  4.000-horse-power  engines  supply  three- 
phase,  25-cycle  alternating  current  at  6,600  volts  pressure 
for  substations  located  some  distance  from  the  generat- 
ing stations.  Six-hundred-volt  direct  current  is  supplied 
to  a  territory  near  the  station  by  two  4,000-horse-power 
engines.  Under  this  arrangement  transformer  and  con- 
verter losses,  as  well  as  substation  operating  costs  and 
interest  upon  the  substation  investment,  is  saved  in  this 
territory.  In  case  of  any  interruption  in  the  alternating 
current  system  those  lines  fed  l)y  the  direct  current  gen- 
erators will  not  be  affected. 

In  the  central  power  station  are  thirty-two  650-horse- 
power  tubular  boilers  made  by  the  Aultman-Taylor  Com- 
pany, arranged  in  batteries  of  two  and  occupying  two 
floors.  These  boilers  have  6,500  square  feet  of  heating 
surface,  are  supplied  with  forced  draught  apparatus,  and 
the  smallest  sizes  of  anthracite  coal  may  be  burned.  There 
are  no  economizers,  automatic  stokers  or  superheaters. 
Provision  has  been  made  for  subsequent  installation  of 
such  apparatus  if  necessary.  The  engines  are  of  the  ver- 
tical compound  type,  directly  connected  with  generat- 
ors by  a  drag-crank,  and  were  manufactured  by  the 
Allis-Chalmers  Company.  The  cylinders  are  42-inch 
and  86-inch,  with  60-inch  stroke ;  a  cylinder  ratio  of  i  to 
4.2.  The  hollow-forged  steel  shaft  is  32  inches  in  diam- 
eter; the  valve  gear  is  of  the  Corliss  type;  the  flywheel 
28  feet  in  diameter  and  240.000  pounds  in  weight. 

The  engine  auxiliaries  consist  of  Worthington  jet 
condensers  with  air  cooler;  Worthington  circulating  air 


Electrical    Handbook  231 

pumps ;  Worthington  rotative  dry  vacuum  pumps,  and 
Wainwright  primary  heaters.  For  the  reception  of  the 
various  drips  and  auxiUary  exhausts  there  are  also  sec- 
ondary heaters,  and  the  engines  are  equipped  with  steam 
jackets  and  re-heaters.  These  engines  are  guaranteed  to 
develop  at  rated  load,  4,000  horse-power,  upon  12^ 
pounds  of  steam  per  indicated  horse-power,  including  the 
steam  used  for  jackets  and  re-heaters,  provided  that  the 
steam  pressure  is  maintained  at  175  pounds  per  square 
inch,  that  the  vacuum  is  maintained  at  26  inches  and  that 
the  steam  does  not  contain  more  than  three  per  cent, 
moisture. 

The  alternating  current  generators  are  each  of  2,700 
kilowatts  capacity.  They  are  of  the  revolving  field  type 
with  forty  field  poles  and  have  a  guaranteed  efficiency  of 
96.5  per  cent,  at  rated  load  with  unity  power  factors. 
These  generators  are  also  guaranteed  to  carry  full  load 
twenty-four  hours  with  a  temperature  rise  of  35°  C. 
above  the  surrounding  atmosphere  and  to  withstand 
momentary  overloads  of  100  per  cent.  The  direct  cur- 
rent generators  are  also  each  of  2,700  kilowatts  capacity 
with  a  guaranteed  efficiency  of  95.4  per  cent,  at  rated 
load.  There  are  three  exciters,  one  steam  driven  and 
two  induction  motor  driven,  any  two  of  which  are  suffi- 
cient to  supply  all  the  field  current  required.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  exciters  a  storage  battery  is  used  to  provide 
an  additional  safeguard.  There  is  a  large  direct  current 
switchboard  as  well  as  the  necessary  alternating  current 
switchboard  apparatus,  with  two  sets  of  high  tension  bus 
bars,  which  may  be  divided  into  four  separate  bus  bars 
by  opening  oil  switches.  Solenoids,  connected  to  the 
storage  battery,  operate  all  of  the  oil  switches.  All  con- 
trolling apparatus  centres  at  the  operator's  board,  which 
is  also  supplied  with  a  complete  set  of  signal  apparatus 
and  a  telephone  system  connecting  all  parts  of  the  power 
station  and  docks. 

In  planning  the  station  much  attention  was  given  to 
the  arrangement  of  cables.  Space  was  necessary  for  both 
high  and  low  tension  feeders.  Nearly  all  the  cables  are 
lead  covered,  either  enclosed  in  earthenware  conduits  or 


2  7^2  The    N  c  ii'    York 

laid  in  grooves  in  the  walls  of  the  building  and  covered 
with  stone  slabs.  To  prevent  the  spread  of  trouble  from 
one  system  to  the  other,  alternating  and  direct  current 
cables  are  led  out  from  the  station  in  different  directions. 

Coal  can  be  conveyed  from  a  coal  pocket  over  the 
boilers  from  the  hoisting  tower  on  the  bank  of  the  Go- 
wanus  canal  or  from  the  storage  yard.  This  yard  has  a 
capacity  of  icx),ooo  tons  and  is  provided  with  unloading 
towers  and  belt  conveyors  so  that  the  coal  stored  in  the 
yard  may  be  transferred  to  the  station  at  a  minimum 
cost. 

Next  in  size  to  the  central  power  station  of  the  Brook- 
lyn Rapid  Transit  Company  is  that  known  as  the  Kent 
avenue  station,  near  the  Brooklyn  terminus  of  the  Wil- 
liamsburg Bridge.  This  is  a  direct  current  station  of 
16,000  horse-power  capacity.  Originally  the  equipment 
consisted  of  four  General  Electric  1,500-kilowatt  direct 
connected  units.  These  at  the  time  of  their  installation 
eleven  years  ago,  were  the  largest  railway  generators 
then  built.  Later  on  two  1,600-kilowatt  Walker  generat- 
ors were  installed.  These  generators  are  direct-con- 
nected to  Allis-Corliss  cross-compound  engines  of  2,000 
horse-power.  Recently  a  2.700-kilowatt  Westinghouse 
generator  direct  connected  to  a  4,ooo-horse-po\ver  Allis- 
Chalmers  engine  has  been  installed,  similar  to  the  two 
direct  current  units  at  the  central  power  station. 

Thirty-six  250-horse-power  Babcock  &  W^ilcox  boil- 
ers, hand  fired  and  supplied  with  engine  driven  forced 
draught  blowers,  form  the  boiler  plant.  The  older  en- 
gines have  surface  condensers,  Allis  pumps  and  Corliss 
valve  gear.  The  station  is  fully  equipped  with  econo- 
mizers. 

Situated  at  Fifty-second  street  and  First  avenue  is 
the  southern  power  station.  It  contains  six  1,000-horse- 
power  Allis-Corliss  cross-compound  engines,  each 
belted  to  two  500-kilowatt  General  Electric  four  pole 
generators.  The  arrangement  of  the  station  is  peculiar 
in  that  the  generators  are  supported  by  a  centre  gallery 
above  and  between  the  two  rows  of  engines  wMth  tight- 
ening   pulleys    suspended    from    the    gallery.     This    per- 


Electrical    Handbook  255 

mits  the  use  of  comparatively  short  belts.  The  station 
was  constructed  twelve  years  ago.  It  marks  a  period 
when  500-kilowatt  railway  generators  were  the  largest 
Iniilt.  The  boiler  equipment  in  the  southern  power  sta- 
tion consists  of  sixteen  250-horse-power  water  tube  boilers 
with  Wilkinson  automatic  stokers.  Two  firemen  attend 
this  plant.  Stokers  are  equipped  with  forced  air  blast, 
increasing  the  capacity  and  efliciency  and  allowing  the 
use  of  cheaper  grades  of  anthracite  coal.  In  the  station 
are  two  boosters  driven  by  two  Westinghouse  500-horse- 
power  vertical  engines. 

Automatically  dumping  cable  cars  carry  coal  from  the 
tower  at  the  end  of  the  dock  a  thousand  feet  from  the 
station  to  the  coal  pocket  near  the  station.  The  station 
has  a  duplicate  system  of  steam  piping  and  larger  floor 
space  for  each  kilowatt  unit  than  many  more  modern 
plants.  A  brick  tunnel  one  thousand  feet  long  by  six 
and  one-half  feet  high  by  seven  feet  wide  extends  from 
the  power  station  to  Second  Avenue.  Feed  wires  and 
ground  wires  are  run  from  the  station  on  racks  arranged 
along  the  sides  of  this  tunnel. 

Close  to  the  new  central  power  station  and  near  Go- 
wanus  canal,  at  Third  avenue  and  First  street,  is  the 
Atlantic  avenue  power  station.  This  contains  seven  400- 
kilowatt  generators  belted  to  tandem  compound  Cooper- 
Corliss  engines ;  two  800-kilowatt  Walker  generators 
direct  connected  to  Allis-Corliss  cross-compound  en- 
gines and  two  belted  booster  sets.  There  are  twenty 
250-horse-power  tubular  boilers  with  Wilkinson  stokers. 
There  are  jet  condensers  and  primary  and  secondary 
heaters. 

In  the  Thirty-ninth  street  power  station  at  Thirty- 
ninth  street  near  First  avenue  are  five  cross-compound 
Cooper-Corliss  engines,  direct  connected  to  Westing- 
house  generators.  Two  1,500-horse-power  engines  have 
1,120-kilowatt  generators,  two  750-horse-power  engines 
have  660-kilowatt  generators  and  one  750-horse-power 
engine  has  a  560-kilowatt  booster.  These  engines  have 
surface  condensers,  and  there  are  ten  250-horse-power 
water  tube  boilers  with  a  coal  pocket  above. 


2j^4  The    N  CIV    York 

Iwo  direct  connected  vertical  engines  built  by  the 
Soiithwark  Foundry  &  Machine  Company  and  connected 
to  two  400-kilo\vatt  Walker  generators  are  located  in  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge  power  station  at  Washington  and 
Prospect  streets.  This  is  the  only  power  station  which 
runs  non-condensing  and  it  is  operated  only  during  the 
morning  and  evening  rush  hours. 

The  Montague  street  cable  line,  consisting  of  about 
one-half  mile  of  track,  operating  from  Wall  Street  ferry 
to  City  Hall  in  Brooklyn,  is  operated  by  the  cable  power 
house  on  State  street,  where  a  225-horse-power  tandem 
compound  engine  supplies  the  necessary  power.  The 
steep  grade  near  the  Wall  Street  ferry,  together  w'ith  the 
fact  that  cars  coming  down  the  grade,  retaining  grip  on 
the  cable,  assist  in  pulling  cars  up  the  grade,  make  it  de- 
sirable from  a  commercial  point  of  view  to  continue  the 
operation  of  this  line  as  a  cable  road,  rather  than  to  sub- 
stitute electric  traction. 

There  are  in  the  Halsey  street  substation,  at  Halsey 
street  and  Broadway,  five  i ,000-kilowatt  rotaries,  with 
space  for  another ;  in  the  Tompkins  substation,  at  Tomp- 
kins avenue  and  Fulton  street,  three  1,000-kilowatt  ro- 
taries and  one  500-kilowatt,  with  space  for  another;  in 
the  Essex  substation,  on  Fulton  near  Essex  street,  three 
1,000-kilowatt,  with  space  for  one  more;  at  the  Bridge 
substation,  at  Washington  and  Prospect  streets,  four 
1,000-kilowatt  rotaries.  with  space  to  install  two  more; 
in  the  Coney  Island  substation  on  Sheepshead  Bay  road 
near  Neptune  avenue,  one  1,000-kilowatt  and  four  500- 
kilowatt  rotaries;  and  in  the  Parkville  substation,  two 
1,000-kilowatt  rotaries  with  room  for  three  others. 

Each  1,000-kilowatt  rotary  has  three  375-kilowatt  trans- 
formers connected  in  delta  with  the  same  number  of  elec- 
trically operated  switches  on  the  low  tension  alternating 
current  side,  between  the  static  transformer  and  the  ro- 
tary converter.  Synchronizing  is  done  on  the  low  tension 
side  of  the  transformer.  While  rotaries  are  supplied  with 
both  series  and  shunt  field  winding,  only  the  shunt  wind- 
ing is  used.  The  transformers  are  cooled  by  air  blast 
supplied  bj'  fan  blowers  driven  by  direct  current  motors 


Electrical    Handbook  ^55 

and  are  placed  on  benches  which  form  a  conduit  for  the 
air  supply.  The  rotaries  are  brought  up  to  speed  for  syn- 
chronizing by  means  of  a  small  induction  motor,  the  shaft 
of  the  motor  being  an  extension  of  the  rotary  converter 
shaft.  Not  only  are  all  oil  switches  operated  electrically, 
but  all  apparatus  is  designed  and  laid  out  with  a  view  of 
operating  the  station  with  a  minimum  amount  of  labor 
and  the  greatest  freedom  from  accident.  For  attending 
a  substation  of  5,000-kilowatt  capacity  there  is  required 
•but  one  electrician  and  an  assistant. 

Rotary  and  feeder  cables  in  substations  are  arranged 
so  as  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  serious  trouble  from  fire 
or  short-circuits.  Cables  entering  the  buildings  under 
ground  through  earthenware  ducts  extend  into  the  sta- 
tion underneath  the  switchboard,  each  duct  terminating 
near  the  point  where  its  own  cable  is  connected  with  the 
board.  With  this  construction  there  are  no  groups  of 
cables  where  trouble  may  spread  from  one  to  the  others. 
High  tension  cables  from  the  central  power  station  to  the 
substations  are  usually  run  underground,  the  only  aerial 
lines  being  those  which  run  to  Coney  Island. 

The  arrangement  of  cable  lines  to  the  substations  is 
on  the  "loop"  system,  so  that  each  substation  may  be  fed 
from  two  directions.  If  by  accident  all  the  cables  in  one 
line  of  conduit  are  destroyed,  substations  may  be  fed 
from  the  opposite  direction.  Sufficient  cables  are  pro- 
vided for  each  substation  to  prevent  the  interruption  of 
service  by  the  disabling  of  a  number  of  cables. 

Storage  batteries  with  a  discharge  capacity  of  2,000 
amperes  for  one  hour,  or  1,000  amperes  for  three  hours, 
are  in  the  substations  at  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  at 
Essex  street.  These  help  to  take  up  the  fluctuations 
caused  by  the  elevated  train  service ;  they  are  also  used 
during  "rush  hours"  to  supplement  the  generating  capac- 
ity of  the  system.  These  batteries  were  furnished  by  the 
Electric  Storage  Battery  Company. 

The  line  equipment  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit 
Company  follows  standard  American  practice.  Tubular 
iron  poles  are  used.  Overhead  feed  wires  are  500,000 
circular  mils  of  stranded  copper  with  weatherproof  insu- 


2^6  The   N  CIV    Y  o  r  k 

lation ;  the  cross-arms  and  pins  are  of  iron ;  micanite 
insulators  are  used;  the  trolley  wire  is  usually  oo  hard 
drawn  round  wire  suspended  from  steel  span  wires.  "Fig- 
ure eight"  trolley  wire  and  General  Electric  grooved  wire 
has  also  been  used  in  some  parts  of  the  line  with  success. 

There  are  between  700  and  800  miles  of  overhead 
feeders,  most  of  which  is  500,000  circular  mils  capacity 
and  a  small  portion  of  which  is  aluminum.  There  are 
thirteen  miles  of  ijOoajOOO  circular  mils  feed  wire.  Heavy 
pole  lines  have  been  avoided  by  the  use  of  elevated  struc- 
tures which  follow  the  lines  of  greatest  traffic.  From 
the  power  stations  to  the  nearest  elevated  structures 
wires  are  run  through  underground  conduits  and  over 
forty  miles  of  lead  covered  cable  is  used  for  this  purpose. 

Delays  from  broken  trolley  wire  are  rare.  Emer- 
gency crews  cover  the  entire  system  and  repairs  are 
quickly  made.  At  the  New  York  end  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge,  where  there  are  many  loops,  the  use  of  trolley 
wire  has  been  abandoned  and  inverted  wooden  troughs 
lined  with  steel  plate  are  used  instead.  Overhead  return 
wires  are  used  to  a  small  extent  for  the  return  circuit. 
Particular  attention  is  given  to  perfecting  the  under- 
ground return  circuit,  and  the  rails,  usually  of  the  heavy 
9-inch  girder  type,  weighing  100  pounds  to  the  yard,  are 
well  bonded.  Sections  near  power  stations  are  supple- 
mented by  overhead  return  wires  and  underground  wires. 
Bare  copper  cable  of  500,000  circular  mils  capacity  is 
used  at  one  station.  Worn  out  rails  laid  in  trenches  and 
bonded  are  used  for  return  circuit  at  two  power  stations. 
The  elevated  structures  aflford  an  excellent  return  circuit, 
being  bonded  at  all  expansion  joints,  and  the  carrying 
capacity  of  the  heaviest  structure  is  equal  to  forty-five 
500.000  circular  mils  cables.  The  bonds  are  usually  of 
the  compressed  type. 

The  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company  uses  heavy 
9-inch  girder  rails  from  go  to  100  pounds  per  yard  on  the 
surface  road.  Grooved  rails  are  also  used.  On  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge  surface  lines  a  heavy  flat  rail  of  rect- 
angular cross-section  and  of  special  design  is  used.  Not 
originally    intended    for   car    service,   no   provision   was 


Electrical    Handbook  2^y 

made  for  laying  girder  rails  on  the  bridge.  These  rails 
have  diagonal  joints  to  withstand  the  heavy  bridge  tratific 
and  are  sixty  feet  in  length. 

Different  types  of  permanent  rail  joints  have  been 
tried  in  Brooklyn  within  the  past  few  years  where  track 
is  laid  in  pavement.  This  year  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  Company  is  welding  over  ii,ooo  joints  by  the 
Lorain  Steel  Company's  electric  process.  This  not  only 
secures  an  absolutely  rigid  and  perfect  track,  but  gives 
such  good  conductivity  that  lOO  per  cent,  of  the  carrying 
capacity  of  the  rail  is  guaranteed. 

The  third  rail  used  on  the  elevated  lines  is  second- 
hand running  rail.  It  weighs  from  55  to  65  pounds  per 
yard  and  is  supported  upon  vitrified  granite  insulators 
with  iron  pedestals  for  fastening  to  the  ties,  malleable 
iron  caps  with  clips  for  holding  fast  on  the  third  rail  and 
a  rim  or  flange  for  shedding  water.  The  third  rail  is  at 
the  side  of  the  track,  201/  inches  from  the  running  rail. 
Its  top  is  6^  inches  above  that  rail.  At  all  grades  the 
third  rail  is  anchored  to  prevent  it  from  sliding  or  creep- 
ing. This  third  rail  is  divided  into  sections,  each  sev- 
eral miles  in  length.  Steel  brushes  on  the  cars  clear  the 
rail  from  ice. 

Elevated  cars  are  operated  by  the  multiple  unit  sys- 
tem. Five  car  trains  are  run  during  the  morning  and 
evening  rush  hours  ;  two  and  three  car  trains  at  other 
times.  Three  motors  and  two  trailers  form  the  five- 
car  trains ;  two  motors  and  one  trailer  the  three-car 
trains.  The  standard  style  of  car  is  known  as  the  "semi- 
convertible,"  a  sash  pocketing  in  the  side  wall  with  as 
low  a  window  sill  as  a  comfortable  longitudinal  scat  will 
permit. 

Arc  headlights  are  used  on  elevated  and  surface  cars. 
The  maximum  speed  of  surface  cars  is  twenty-eight  miles 
per  hour  and  of  the  elevated  forty-two  miles  per  hour. 
Expresses  run  from  Park  Row,  Manhattan,  to  Coney 
Island,  a  distance  of  11. 61  miles,  in  thirty- four  minutes. 
Besides  carrying  passengers  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit 
carries  the  United  States  mails  in  special  cars  between 
the  Brooklyn  Post  Office  and  its  sub  post-office  stations. 


2^8  The    N  CIV    York 

Cars  are  also  run  for  the  express  companies.  Brook- 
lyn's ashes  are  hauled  away  on  thirty  gondola  cars.  Each 
car  has  four  removal  steel  bins.  Ashes  are  collected  at 
thirteen  ash  receiving  stations.  Electric  cranes  lift, 
lower  and  dump  the  bins. 

Cars  are  repaired  and  maintained  in  seventeen  (  17) 
repair  shops  scattered  at  the  most  convenient  points  all 
over  the  system.  Elevated  cars  and  surface  cars,  owing 
to  the  difiference  in  construction,  are  repaired  in  different 
shops. 

The  best  surface  car  shop  is  located  at  Fifty-second 
Street  and  Second  Avenue,  and  is  equipped  with  the 
most  modern  tools,  machinery  and  appliances  for  the  care 
of  surface  cars  and  has  a  capacity  to  handle  100  surface 
cars  at  once. 

The  best  elevated  repair  shop  is  located  at  Thirty- 
ninth  Street  between  Second  and  Third  Avenues.  Spe- 
cial care  was  used  in  the  design  of  the  interior  of  this 
shop  to  facilitate  the  economical  repair  of  elevated  cars. 
It  is  commodious  and  well  lighted.  It  is  also  supplied 
with  the  most  modern  tools  and  machinery,  and  has  a 
capacity  of  handling  seventy-five  50-foot  elevated  cars  at 
one  time. 

The  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company  has  its  own 
printing  office,  where  all  of  its  transfers  are  printed. 
Nearly  half  a  million  transfers  are  printed  daily.  Ninety- 
four  varieties  of  transfers  are  used.  Ten  thousand  mo- 
tormen  and  conductors  are  employed  on  the  B.  R.  T. 
lines  during  the  summer  months.  In  the  winter  the 
number  employed  is  about  seven  thousand.  All  em- 
ployees are  measured,  weighed  and  examined  physically. 
Eyesight  is  specially  tested.  Men  are  trained  as  motor- 
men  on  special  cars  by  instructors.  Conductors  receive 
their  training  by  riding  on  passenger  cars  with  the  regu- 
lar conductor.  The  wages  of  conductors  and  motormen 
is  rated  according  to  the  length  of  service.  Increases  are 
given  at  the  expiration  of  one.  three  and  five  years  of 
service.  This  tends  to  discourage  strikes  and  is  an  in- 
centive for  the  men  to  continue  in  the  company's  service. 


Electrical    Handbook  2^g 

The   Brown   system   of   discipline   with   modifications   is 
used  with  satisfactory  results. 

Nearly  all  of  the  employees  of  the  company  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Mutual  Benefit  As- 
sociation. This  organization  is  fostered  and  encouraged 
by  the  company.  It  is  both  a  benefit  and  a  social  organ- 
ization. Members  pay  dues  of  fifty  cents  a  month.  If 
they  become  disabled  or  are  ill  for  more  than  seven  days 
they  receive  $i  per  day  and  free  medical  attendance.  In 
case  of  death  $ioo  is  paid  by  the  association  to  the  fam- 
ily. Picnics  and  other  outings  to  the  seaside  resorts  for 
the  benefit  of  the  employees  and  their  families  are  held 
during  the  summer  season.  Well  equipped  club  houses 
with  bowling  alleys,  billiard  tables,  reading  rooms,  libra- 
ries and  gymnasiums  are  maintained  for  the  use  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Association.  Small  club  rooms  are  located 
at  almost  every  depot.  In  these  places  employees  off 
duty  and  all  extra  men  find  recreation. 

WILLIAMSBURG  POWER  STATION 

To  provide  for  the  future  growth  of  the  system  a  new 
station  has  been  commenced  adjoining  the  eastern  power 
station,  to  be  known  as  the  Williamsburg  station.  This 
station  will  be  by  far  the  largest  and  most  important 
power  plant  of  the  company  and  when  completed  will 
have  a  capacity  one-third  greater  than  the  combined 
power  plants  now  in  use. 

The  plans  provide  for  an  ultimate  installation  of 
66,000  Kw.,  to  be  divided  between  twelve  5.500-Kw. 
turbo-generator  units,  of  which  two  have  been  ordered, 
one  from  the  Westinghouse-Church-Kerr  Company  and 
the  other  from  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company. 

The  building  will  be  257  by  209  feet  and  will  be  di- 
vided into  a  boiler  house  125  feet  6  inches  wide  and  two 
stories  high,  and  an  engine  room  83  feet  6  inches  wide 
and  one  story  high.  At  one  side  of  the  engine  room 
there  will  be  galleries  twenty  feet  wide  extending  the 
whole  length  and  across  one  end  of  the  building  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  switchboard  apparatus. 

The  building  will  rest  upon  pile  and  concrete  founda- 


240 

w- 


T  h  e    N  e  iv    York 


i" 


'iM 


■'^■^ 


i    1 1^ 


f  1 1 


I.L  J  I  ' 


>  :  f 


L_ 


.T-y- 


rf  . 


vV^ 


Electrical    Handbook  241 

tions,  the  piles  being  uniformly  distributed  under  the 
boiler  room  and  concentrated  in  the  engine  room  to  sus- 
tain the  weight  of  the  turbo  units. 

Central  tunnels  ten  feet  in  diameter  extending  nearlj- 
the  full  length  of  the  building  will  provide  for  the  intake 
and  discharge  of  condensing  water.  The  intake  tunnel 
is  to  be  located  directly  beneath  the  discharge  tunnel,  but 
their  connection  with  the  river  is  arranged  so  as  to  be 
as  far  apart  as  possible. 

The  boiler  house  will  be  built  to  accommodate  seventy- 
two  650-H.  P.  boilers.  A  large  coal  pocket  of  18.000  tons 
capacity  will  be  supported  from  the  steel  framework  of 
the  building. 

The  5.500-Kw.  dynamos  will  be  so  wound  as  to  be 
capable  of  connection  for  either  6,600  or  11, 000- volt  po- 
tential, it  being  the  intention  of  the  company  to  operate 
all  their  alternating  current  power  circuits  at  the  higher 
potential. 

Additional  sub.stations  are  to  be  constructed  in  the 
Bushwick  and  New  Utrecht  districts.  Subways  will  con- 
nect all  the  substations  with  the  new  station  and  high 
tension  cables  will  be  installed  so  that  any  substation  can 
be  supplied  from  either  the  Central  or  Williamsburg  sta- 
tions. 


ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT  OF 

INTERBOROUGH  RAPID 

TRANSIT  COMPANY 


Electrical  Equipment  of  Intet^borough 
Rapid  Transit  Company:  Man- 
hattan Railway  Division 

ALL  of  the  elevated  railways  now  in  operation  on 
Manhattan  Island,  and  in  the  Borough  of  the 
Bronx,  were  leased  in  April,  1903,  to  the  Inter- 
borough  Rapid  Transit  Company,  and  are  now 
known  as  the  ^Manhattan  Railway  Division  of  that 
Company. 

The  rolling  stock  required  is  over  1,500  cars,  and, 
during  the  hours  of  heavy  traffic,  1,332  of  these  cars 
are  in  service  on  the  road.  About  850,000  passengers 
are  carried  each  day.  The  heaviest  passenger  load  in 
the  history  of  the  road  was  on  April  4,  1904,  when 
1,063,000  passengers  were  carried. 

The  trains  were  formerly  hauled  by  steam  loco- 
motives, which  pulled  four  and  five  car  trains  at  a 
speed  of  from  ten  to  eleven  miles  per  hour  during 
the  hours  of  heavy  traffic. 

In  order  to  increase  the  carrying  capacity  of  the 
road,  a  change  in  motive  power  was  required  which 
would  enable  longer  trains  to  be  hauled  at  greater  speed. 
The  experience  of  the  electrically  operated  elevated 
roads  in  Chicago,  the  first  of  which  was  put  in  service 
at  the  World's  Fair  in  that  city  during  1893,  demon- 
strated the  advantages  of  electricity  as  a  motive  power 
for  elevated  trains  and,  in  February,  1899,  the  stock- 
holders of  the  Manhattan  Railway  voted  to  change  the 
system  of  motive  power  from  steam  to  electricity  and 
issued  $18,000,000  in  additional  stock  to  pay  for  this 
improvement. 

The  first  regular  electric  train  on  the  Manhattan 
Elevated  Railway  System  was  put  into  service  in  Jan- 
245 


U6 


The    New    York 


uary,  1902.  A  year  later  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
system  was  in  electric  operation,  and  the  last  steam  train 
was  taken  off  on  June  24,  1903. 

The  substitution  of  electricity  has  enabled  an  in- 
crease of  thirty-three  per  cent,  to  be  made  in  the  carry- 
ing capacity  of  the  road,  as  indicated  by  the  actual 
increase  in  car  mileage.  The  electric  trains  at  rush 
hours  are  now  composed  of  six  cars  each  and  make  a 
speed  of  thirteen  and  one-half  miles  per  hour. 


74th  Street  Power  Station,  Manhattan  Division 


The  passenger  traffic  during  1903,  the  first  year  of 
entire  electric  operation,  was  thirty  per  cent,  more  than 
the  last  year  of  steam  operation,  1901.  The  elimination 
of  the  smoke,  steam  and  cinders,  incidental  to  steam 
locomotive  operation,  is  universally  appreciated,  but  the 
final,  and  conclusive,  advantage  of  electricity  as  a  mo- 
tive power  is  that  the  cost  of  electric  operation  dur- 
ing the  year  1903  was  less  than  forty-five  per  cent, 
of  the  gross  receipts,  while  the  cost  of  steam  operation 
in  1 901  was  over  fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the  gross  receipts. 


Electrical    Handbook  24^ 

The  power  for  the  operation  of  all  trains  on  the 
Manhattan  Railway  Division  is  generated  at  one  power 
station  located  near  the  centre  of  the  system  on  the 
East  River,  between  74th  and  75th  Streets.  In  this 
station,  three  -  phase  alternators,  driven  by  compound 
condensing  engines,  deliver  power  at  11,000  volts  poten- 
tial to  the  main  station  bus  bars.  The  alternators  are 
connected  to  the  bus  bars  through  oil  switches  which 
control  the  ii,ooo-volt  circuit.  The  power  is  then  dis- 
tributed to  substations,  located  along  the  lines  of  the 
road  at  approximately  equidistant  points.  Three- 
conductor  cables,  placed  underground  in  vitrified  clay 
ducts,  convej'  power  from  the  main  station  to  these 
substations. 

In  the  substations,  the  potential  is  first  reduced  from 
11,000  to  390  volts,  by  means  of  step-down  transformers, 
then  it  passes  through  rotary  converters,  which  supply 
direct  current  at  a  potential  of  625  volts  to  the  third 
rail  for  the  operation  of  the  trains. 

POWER    STATION 

The  power  station  has  a  distinctively  massive  and 
symmetrical  appearance,  for  the  exterior  walls,  relieved 
by  high  arched  windows,  are  carried  around  the  entire 
building  at  a  uniform  height,  thus  preserving  the  unity 
of  design.  Below  the  windows,  which  are  about  twenty- 
five  feet  above  the  ground,  the  walls  are  faced  with 
rough  finished  granite,  and  above  this  line  moulded 
bricks  are  used.  The  roof  is  covered  with  red  tile,  with 
continuous  monitor  windows  above  engine  and  boiler 
rooms. 

The  building  is  204  feet  wide  and  extends  395  feet 
along  74th  Street  and  413  feet  along  75th  Street.  Be- 
tween the  east  wall  and  the  dock,  a  space  of  eighty-five 
feet  has  been  reserved  by  the  city  for  the  future  con- 
struction of  Exterior  Street.  The  property  purchased 
for  the  power  station  extends  back  from  the  west  wall 
a  sufficient  distance  so  that  the  building  may  be 
extended  to  contain  additional  power  equipment. 


248 


The   N  c  lu    York 


The  foundations  rest  on  bed  rock,  in  which  much 
excavation  was  required  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  uniform 
level. 

The  building  is  of  brick  and  steel  fireproof  construc- 
tion throughout.  Combustible  material  has  been  avoided 
even  in  the  window  frames  and  sashes,  which  are  of 
cast  iron,  and  all  doors  and  wooden  office  partitions  are 
sheathed  either  with  copper  or  galvanized  iron. 

A  brick  partition  wall  divides  the  engine  room,  which 


\/  '^ ' .  m^ie^^s^^mmM^^s^i^t^' 


Interior  of  linginc  Room  74th  Street  Power  Station 


is  ninety-three  feet  six  inches  wide,  from  the  boiler 
room,  which  is  one  hundred  and  four  feet  two  inches 
wide. 

The  four  stacks  are  each  seventeen  feet  inside  diame- 
ter and  278  feet  high  above  the  basement  floor,  and  267 
feet  above  the  grates  of  the  lower  boilers.  The  base 
of  the  stack  is  octagonal  in  shape  to  a  point  above  the 
flue  opening  of  the  upper  tier  of  boilers  seventy-three 
feet  from  the  basement  floor.  The  walls  of  the  base 
are   five   feet   thick,   with   a    lining  of   hollow   fire  brick 


H  I  c  c  t  r  i  c  a  I    II  a  it  d  b  o  o  k  24^) 

supported  on  corbeled  shelves  ten  feet  apart  to  allow  for 
expansion. 

The  circular  shaft  is  built  of  Custodis  brick,  which 
are  perforated  with  one-inch  square  holes.  'Jhese  holes 
serve  to  reduce  the  weight  of  the  brick  and  also  provide 
dead  air  spaces,  which  decrease  the  amount  of  heat  car- 
ried through  the  walls  of  the  stack. 

The  power  generating  machinery  has  been  arranged 
in  eight  distinct  units,  each  unit  consisting  of  one  engine 
and  condenser,  four  batteries  of  boilers,  and  one  boiler 
feed  pump.  This  arrangement  lends  itself  most  favor- 
ably to  the  construction  of  the  building,  as  it  allows  uni- 
form spacing  and  duplication  of  columns  and  beams.  It 
also  simplifies  the  piping,  which  is  identical  for  the 
eight  units,  and  provides,  between  each  engine  and  its 
corresponding  boilers,  the  most  direct  route  for  the 
steam. 

The  prime  movers  are  eight  Allis-Chalmers  engines, 
each  of  8,000  horse-power.  Each  of  these  engines  has  a 
straight  shaft  supported  by  two  bearings  with  crank 
discs  at  each  end  and  with  the  rotating  element  of  the 
alternator  located  centrally.  A  high  pressure  cylinder, 
placed  horizontally,  and  a  low  pressure  cylinder,  placed 
vertically,  is  attached  to  each  crank  disc,  the  connecting 
rods  being  attached  side  by  side  to  one  crank  pin.  The 
crank  pin  at  one  end  is  placed  135  degrees  ahead  of  the 
crank  pin  at  the  other  end  of  the  shaft.  During  each 
revolution  the  shaft  receives  two  impulses  from  each  of 
the  four  cylinders,  thus  producing  a  very  uniform  rota- 
tive effect. 

The  cylinders  are  forty-four  and  eighty-eight  inches 
in  diameter,  respectively,  with  five-foot  stroke  and  the 
normal  speed  is  seventy-five  revolutions  a  minute. 

Valves  are  of  the  Reynolds-Corliss  automatic  type 
and  separate  eccentrics  are  used  for  operating  the  valves 
on  the  high  and  low  pressure  cylinders.  A  ball  gov- 
ernor, with  an  oil  operated  relay,  controls  the  point  of 
cut-off  of  the  high  and  low  pressure  cylinders.  The 
relay  consists  of  a  small  cylinder  with  a  piston  con- 
nected to  the  engine  valve  gear. 


2^)0  The    N  ezv    York 

The  ball  governor  is  arranged  so  that  its  movement 
opens  or  closes  valves  which  admit  oil  under  pressure 
to  the  relay  cylinder.  The  relay,  therefore,  serves  to 
make  the  governing  of  the  engine  more  sensitive,  as 
the  work  of  moving  the  engine  valve  gears  is  done  by 
the  oil  piston.  The  variation  in  speed,  when  running  in 
regular  service,  is  guaranteed  not  to  exceed  three-fifths 
of  one  degree  in  one  revolution. 

The  steam  consumption,  when  developing  8,000 
Brake  Horse  Power  with  150  pounds  steam,  twenty- 
six  inches  vacuum,  at  seventy-five  revolutions  a 
minute,  is  guaranteed  not  to  exceed  thirteen  pounds 
steam  per  indicated  horse-power  per  hour. 

Eight  barometric  type  jet  condensers  are  installed 
with  the  condensing  cones  placed  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  discharge  opening  of  each  of  the  low  pressure  cylin- 
ders. Between  the  top  of  the  cone  and  the  cylinder 
opening,  a  special  "Tee"  is  placed  to  allow  for  the  at- 
mospheric exhaust  connection.  The  bottom  of  the  cone 
is  about  thirty-four  feet  above  extreme  high  water,  and 
the  discharge  tube  is  carried  to  the  bottom  of  the  dis- 
charge tunnel,  so  that  the  end  of  the  pipe  is  always 
submerged. 

The  condensing  water  is  supplied  to  each  of  the 
8,ooo-H.P.  engines  by  a  centrifugal  circulating  pump 
direct-connected  to  a  single  cylinder  engine,  the  exhaust 
of  which  is  piped  to  the  receiver  of  the  main  engine. 

In  order  to  provide  against  a  failure  of  any  one  of 
the  centrifugal  pumps,  a  duplex  steam-driven  pump, 
having  a  capacity  of  7.500  gallons  per  minute,  is  installed 
and  connected  to  a  twenty-four-inch  pipe  running  the 
entire  length  of  the  building,  from  which  connections 
are  made  to  the  injection  pipes  of  each  conden.ser.  The 
vacuum  is  equalized  in  the  condensing  chambers  by  the 
use  of  an  equalizing  pipe,  twelve  inches  in  diameter, 
which  connects  the  exhaust  pipes  above  the  condensers. 

Dry  air  pumps  are  not  required,  as  a  high  degree 
of  vacuum  is  obtained  without  their  use.  A  motor- 
driven  vacuum  pump  has,  however,  been  installed 
with   pipes   connecting  to   the   discharge   of  each  of 


Electrical    Handbook  251 

the  centrifugal  pumps,  which  serves  to  prime  the 
pumps. 

The  spray  nozzle  in  the  condensing  chamber  con- 
sists of  an  umbrella-shaped  casting,  through  the  center 
of  which  the  injection  water  passes.  A  cone-shaped 
casting,  supported  in  the  centre  of  the  injection  pipe 
on  a  vertical  spindle,  causes  the  water  to  be  distributed 
uniformly  over  the  umbrella-shaped  casting.  The  ad- 
vantage of  this  form  of  spray  nozzle  is  that  there  are  no 
small  openings  to  become  clogged  with  foreign  matter 
held  in  suspension  in  the  injection  water,  and  anything 
that  can  pass  through  the  four-inch  mesh  screen  will 
safely  pass  through  the  condenser. 

The  cost  of  maintenance  on  this  type  of  condenser 
is  extremely  low,  as  there  are  no  valve  seats,  springs  or 
tubes  to  get  out  of  order.  The  degree  of  vacuum  pro- 
duced averages  twenty-eight  inches,  about  two  inches 
less  than  the  height  of  the  barometer  taken  simul- 
taneousl3^ 

The  water  for  condensing  the  steam  is  taken  from 
the  river  through  a  tunnel  built  below  the  basement 
floor  of  the  engine  room  along  the  74th  Street  side. 
'i'his  tunnel  is  rectangular  in  section.  8  ft.  6  in.  wide 
and  14  ft.  3  in  deep.  Parallel  to  this  tunnel  is  a 
smaller  tunnel,  five  feet  wide  and  of  the  same  depth, 
which  carries  away  the  discharge  w'ater  from  the 
condensers.  At  the  river  ends,  these  tunnels  are 
separated  eighty-five  feet  to  prevent  the  warm  water 
from  the  discharge  tunnel  returning  through  the  intake 
tunnel.  At  the  mouth  of  the  intake  tunnel,  a  set  of 
double  screens,  with  four-inch  mesh,  is  built  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  floating  material  into  the  tunnel.  It  is 
necessary  to  raise  these  screens  at  least  once  each  day 
to  remove  the  quantity  of  refuse  which  clings  to  the 
gratings. 

The  boiler  equipment  consists  of  sixty-four  Bab- 
cock  &  Wilcox  horizontal  water  tube  boilers,  each  rated 
at  520  boiler  horse-power  at  thirty  pounds  steam  per 
H.P.  per  hour.  Eight  additional  boilers  of  600  B.H.P. 
each   were   recently   installed   and  will   be   used   for  the 


-?5-'  The    N  c  zc    York 

opcratii)!!  uf  the  ik'w  5,500-K\v.  turbo-generator.  The 
boilers  are  placed  on  two  floors  with  centre  firing 
aisles  which  run  longitudinally  with  the  building.  They 
arc  built  in  batteries  of  two  and  are  supported  on  the 
cohunns  of  the  building  independent  of  the  brick  walls 
and  floors.  Eight  boilers,  four  on  each  floor,  occupy 
the  space  opposite  one  engine  unit  and  normally  sup- 
ply steam  for  this  unit. 

Each  boiler  has  5,200  square  feet  of  heating  surface, 
and  the  mechanical  stoker  has  ninety-four  square  feet 
of  grate  area.  The  normal  steam  pressure  carried  at  the 
boilers  is  165  pounds  above  atmosphere,  but  the  boilers 
are  built  to  safely  carry  200  pounds. 

The  actual  evaporation  of  the  boilers  with  coal  hav- 
ing a  heat  value  of  14,000  British  thermal  units  per 
pound,  and  with  feed  water  at  an  average  temperature  of 
188°  F.,  averages  9.18  pounds  of  water  per  pound  of 
coal. 

The  Roney  mechanical  stokers,  with  which  the  boil- 
ers are  fitted,  are  capable  of  burning  either  anthracite 
or  bituminous  coal,  or  a  mixture  of  the  two.  The  coal 
is  delivered  to  the  stokers  through  iron  pipes  from  the 
coal  bunkers  at  the  top  of  the  building  and  requires  no 
manual  handling. 

An  economizer,  for  heating  the  feed  water,  is  pro- 
vided for  each  set  of  two  batteries  of  boilers  in  the  orig- 
inal installation,  making  sixteen  economizers  in  all. 
Each  economizer  is  placed  in  the  rear  of  its  set  of  boilers, 
with  a  smoke  flue  betw^een  the  inner  wall  of  the  econ- 
omizer and  the  rear  wall  of  the  boilers.  This  flue  is 
provided  w-ith  dampers,  so  that  the  flue  gases  may  be 
led  through  the  economizer  or  passed  directly  to  the 
stack. 

For  the  first  three  months  in  the  year  1904,  the  ave- 
rage temperature  of  the  water  at  the  city  water  main 
was  34.8°  F. ;  the  temperature  at  which  it  left  the  surge 
tank  was  71.7°  F.,  and  the  temperature  on  leaving  the 
economizers  was  182.3°  F.,  showing  an  increase  of  110.6° 
F.,  due  to  the  use  of  the  economizers. 

Sixteen  blowers  are  installed  in  the  boiler  room  for 


Electrical    Handbook  _'5J 

the  purpose  of  furnishing  forced  draft  in  case  anthracite 
coal  is  used.  Each  blower  has  a  capacity  of  57,000  cubic 
feet  of  air  at  a  pressure  of  one  ounce  per  square  inch, 
and  is  driven  by  a  direct  connected  twenty-five  horse- 
power induction  motor. 

Eight  pumps,  each  having  a  capacity  of  360  gallons 
per  minute,  are  installed  in  the  centre  aisle  of  the 
boiler  room  basement  for  supplying  water  to  the  boilers. 
Each  pump  consists  of  three  single  acting  cylinders 
driven  by  gearing  from  a  sixty-five  horse-power,  500 
volt,   shunt-wound,   motor. 

The  steam  piping  is  arranged  in  eight  sections,  each 
section  connecting  one  engine  with  four  batteries  of 
boilers,  two  on  the  upper  and  two  on  the  lower  floor. 
The  two  batteries  on  each  floor  are  connected  to  a  short 
header,  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  these  headers 
are  connected  between  adjacent  sections  by  fourteen- 
inch  equalizing  pipes,  bent  at  large  radius. 

For  each  engine,  a  steam  reservoir,  thirty-six  inches 
in  diameter  and  twenty-four  feet  long,  is  provided. 
The  expansion  and  contraction  is  provided  for  by  means 
of  pipes  with  bends  of  large  radius. 

The  boiler  feed  piping  is  arranged  on  a  ring  system 
so  that,  in  case  of  an  accident  to  any  portion  of  the 
piping,  the  boilers  may  be  supplied  by  the  duplicate  con- 
nection. 

All  of  the  valves  used  in  both  high  and  low  pressure 
piping  are  made  with  adjustable  wedge  gates  and 
with  bronze  seats. 

The  amount  of  coal  required  for  the  operation  of  the 
power  station  during  the  winter  months  is  about  700 
tons  per  day.  This  coal  is  brought  to  the  power  station 
dock  in  barges,  from  which  the  coal  is  unloaded  bj' 
means  of  a  ton-and-a-half  clam-shell  bucket  operated 
by  a  hoisting  engine.  This  bucket  is  elevated  about  fifty 
feet  to  the  top  of  the  coal  tower,  where  the  coal  is  dis- 
charged into  crushers,  which  break  it  to  a  size  suitable 
for  use  in  the  automatic  stokers.  The  coal  then  drops 
into  weighing  hoppers,  where  it  is  weighed  before  going 
to  the  boilers.     It  is  then  elevated  by  means  of  conveyors 


^■57  The    N  c  zv    Y  o  r  k 

to  tlic  toi)  ol  the  tower  and  is  (lcli\crccl  into  Ijuckct  con- 
veyors which  run  the  entire  length  of  the  boiler  room, 
and  these  conveyors  deliver  to  three  separate  coal 
bunkers  built  above  the  upper  tier  of  boilers. 

After  the  coal  is  burned,  the  ashes  drop  to  the  base- 
ment through  rectangular  cast  iron  pipes  and,  by  open- 
ing valves  at  the  lower  ends  of  these  pipes,  the  ashes  are 
delivered  into  iron  cars  and  an  electric  mining  locomo- 
tive is  used  to  pull  these  cars  to  a  point  at  the  east  end 
of  the  building,  where  they  are  dumped  into  a  hopper 
which  loads  the  ashes  into  a  line  of  bucket  conveyors. 
These  elevate  and  carry  the  ashes  across  the  bridge  to 
the  tower  containing  ash  storage  bins.  When  a  suffi- 
cient quatity  of  ashes  has  accumulated,  these  bins  are 
emptied  into  barges  which  transport  the  ashes  away. 

A  movable  coal  tower,  provided  with  belt  convej'ors, 
has  recently  been  installed  in  addition  to  the  apparatus 
already  described.  The  movable  tower  obviates  the 
necessity  of  moving  the  barge  from  time  to  time  as 
coal  is  unloaded,  thereby  saving  much  time  and  labor. 

The  engine  room  is  provided  with  an  electric  crane 
which  is  capable  of  handling  the  heaviest  single  piece 
of  machinery  installed.  The  crane  has  one  fifty-ton  and 
one  fifteen-ton  hoist. 

The  eight  Westinghouse  alternators  at  the  74th 
Street  power  station  were,  at  the  time  of  their  erec- 
tion, the  largest  engine-driven  dynamos  that  had  ever 
been  built. 

The  rated  output  of  each  alternator  is  5,000  k.w.. 
luit  they  are  designed  to  carry  an  overload  of  fifty  per 
cent,  for  two  hours  with  a  temperature  rise  not  to  ex- 
ceed 55°  C,  and  in  service  they  are  frequently  loaded  to 
this  amount  for  short  spaces  of  time.  The  accompany- 
ing diagram  shows  a  representative  load  at  the  74th 
Street  power  station,  taken  on  January  18,  1904.  on  a 
cold  day  when,  in  addition  to  the  power  for  moving 
cars,  a  consideral)lc  quantity  of  power  was  required  for 
car  heaters.  The  diagram  indicates  that,  during  rush 
hours,  the  eight  alternators  were  delivering  to  the  line 
from  40,000  to  47,000  kilowatts,   and   that,   in   addition. 


Electrical    Handbook 


?55 


from  5,000  to  6.000  kilowatts  was  being  supplied  by  the 
Kingsbridge  station  of  the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway 
Company. 

In  order  to  meet  the  increasing  demands  for  power 
caused  by  the  rapidly  increasing  traffic,  a  5.500-kilowatt 
alternator,  driven  by  a   Parson's  steam  turbine,  is   soon 


Siooo 

1     .ipi 

\ 

^yMjix  M  C/)ifs  ox  i/vc  -  /J57 

ri  1      1      1      1      1      1 

J 

e 

i         1         1        1         1        1      $ 

iSSOOKltf.l 

Hsi- 

: 

1  r 

\J 

n 

?-,'» 

se  nw  iJi 

ilTS  p  -" 

r 

y- 

^ 

/  scnmce 

\ 

J 

7  i'ly 

\ 

1 

r] 

J 

n 

JT- 

H 

1 

■L 

eiJuiTj.  1 

1 

1 

'il/M 

1 

AUmrs 

ij^ 

1^ 

n 

I 

'  UH 

1    1    1    1    1    i    1    1    1 

Load  CufivE  AT  74'-Sr  PorycR  Srer/c 
l/treHBo/ioucH  f?/ip/D  7»/!/rJ/r  Co 

M. 

^: 

\ 

ItM 

uX 

TQ. 

t       dM.  IS.  I£0*    I  '^~"  1 
ni   N£T  OUTfur  OF  5TflT/0/^=  675940  Kh 

yti&. 

— 

\ 

- 

/ 



— 

— 

— 

r- 

4 

ar-i 

, 

t — S 1 



v-^ 

B 1 

r-n 

1 — rn; 

r4-^ 



. , 

1 ^, 

to  be  installed  at  the  74th  Street  station,  and  additional 
power  will  also  be  transmitted  from  the  new  Inter- 
borough  power  station  at  58th  Street,  as  soon  as  this 
station  is  in  operation. 

Reference  to  the  load  diagram  shows  that,  between 
the  hours  of  four  and  six-thirty  in  the  morning,  the 
load   increased   very   rapidly   from   5.000  to  40.COO   kilo- 


^56 


T  h  c    X  e  IV    York 


watts.  Consideration  of  this  quickly  rising  load  was 
one  of  the  determining  factors  in  the  choice  of  units  of 
5,000  kilowatts  output.  Even  with  units  of  this  size, 
it  is  necessary  to  start  one  every  twenty  minutes  in 
order  to  anticipate  the  morning  load. 


External  ,\rmature  Frame  of  5000  K\v.  Alternators 


The  external  armature  frame  of  the  alternator  is 
forty-two  feet  high,  and  is  made  in  six  sections  bolted 
together.  This  frame  is  bored  to  receive  the  laminated 
steel  plates  which  foi-m  the  armature  core. 


Electrical    Handbook  ^57 

The  winding  is  three-phase,  and,  at  the  normal  out- 
put of  5,000  kilowatts  at  11,000  volts  with  non-inductive 
load,  the  current  per  phase  is  263  amperes.  The  normal 
speed  is  seventy-five  revolutions  a  minute,  and  the  cur- 
rent generated  has  3,000  alternations  per  minute,  or 
twenty-five  cycles  per  second.  The  armature  winding 
consists  of  insulated  copper  bars  placed  in  partially 
closed  slots,  there  being  four  slots  per  phase  per  pole 
and  three  bars  in  each  slot.  The  insulation  of  the 
armature  winding  was  subjected  to  a  test  of  25,000  volts 
alternating  for  thirty  minutes  before  each  machine  was 
accepted  by  the  purchaser. 

The  forty  field  poles  are  built  up  of  laminated  steel 
plates  secured  to  the  periphery  of  the  steel  plate  fly 
wheel,  and  the  outside  diameter  of  the  poles  is  thirty- 
two  feet.  The  fly  wheel  effect  of  this  rotating  element 
is  370,000  pounds  at  11.7  feet  radius.  The  field  windings 
consist  of  copper  straps  wound  on  edge,  one  layer  deep, 
with  insulating  material  cemented  between  the  turns. 

Copper  wedges  are  driven  into  place  between  adja- 
cent pole  tips  after  the  coils  have  been  put  on.  These 
copper  wedges  serve  to  hold  the  coils  in  place  and  also 
act  as  a  magnetic  damper  to  check  any  tendency  toward 
variation  in  angular  velocity. 

The  exciting  current  required  in  the  field  coils  when 
the  armature  is  delivering  full  rated  output,  is  225 
amperes  at  2CO  volts.  A  field  rheostat,  with  motor 
driven  face  plate,  is  provided  with  each  alternator  for 
regulating  the  potential.  The  insulation  of  the  field 
coils  is  designed  to  withstand  a  test  of  2,500  volts,  alter- 
nating, for  one  minute. 

The  electrical  efficiency  of  the  alternator,  determined 
by  shop  tests,  is  96.68  per  cent,  at  half  load,  97.97  per 
cent,  at  full  load,  and  98.15  per  cent,  at  25  per  cent, 
overload. 

Four  exciter  generators  are  installed  for  supplying 
current  to  the  alternator  fields.  Each  generator  is  of 
250  kilowatts  output,  or  1,000  amperes  at  250  volts. 

Each   generator   is   direct   connected  to   a   300-H.    P. 


2j8  The    N  cic    York 

tandem  compound  engine.  The  exhaust  of  these  engines 
is  piped  to  two  motor-driven  jet  condensers. 

The  switching  apparatus  is  placed  on  two  galleries 
running  longitudinally  witli  the  building  and  built 
against  the  partition  wall  between  the  engine  and  boiler 
rooms.  The  upper  gallery  is' used  for  feeder  switches 
and  compartments  containing  the  group  bus  bars,  to 
which  the  substation  feeders  are  connected.  On  the 
gallery  below  are  built  the  alternator  oil  switches,  and, 
in  the  double  floor  of  this  gallery',  runwaj'S  are  con- 
structed with  brick  partitions  for  the  main  bus  bars. 
The  instrument  panels  are  also  placed  on  this  gallery  at 
a  point  near  the  centre  of  the  building,  and  the  exciter 
and  auxiliary  switchboards  are  located  at  either  side, 
so  as  to  be  near  the  operator  on  the  same  gallery.  A 
third  gallery,  built  below  these  two  galleries,  is  used  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  feeder  cables.  The  General 
Electric  Form  "H"'  oil  switch  is  used  throughout,  and, 
even  under  the  most  severe  conditions  in  service,  has 
opened  ii,ooo  volt  circuits  without  trouble  of  any  kind. 

The  current  from  each  alternator  passes  through  a 
500-ampere  oil  switch  which  is  provided  with  an  over- 
load time-limit  relay  operating  at  the  end  of  three  sec- 
onds at  about  three  times  full  load  current.  This  oil 
switch  is  also  provided  with  a  reverse  current  time-limit 
relay  which  operates  in  tlirce  seconds  at  six-tenths  full 
load  current. 

From  this  oil  switch  connections  are  made  to  two 
similar  oil  switches,  without  automatic  relays,  which  are 
connected  respectively  to  the  two  sets  of  main  bus  bars. 
These  bus  bars  consist  of  stranded  copper  cable  of 
1,000,000  circular  mils  section,  insulated  with  -3"^  of  an 
inch  of  rubber  compound  containing  thirty  per  cent, 
fine  Para.  These  cables  are  supported  on  porcelain 
insulators  which  are  tested  to  40,000  volts.  Each  cable 
is  installed  in  a  brick  runway  constructed  under  the 
floor  of  the  switchboard  gallery.  A  removable  floor  of 
two-inch  slate  is  placed  above  these  bus  bars. 

The  feeder  cables  for  each  substation  are  provided 
with  a  group  bus  bar  placed  on  the  upper  switch  gallery. 


Electrical    H  a  ii  d  b  o  o  k  250 

For  supplying  current  to  each  group  bus  bar,  two  800- 
ampere  oil  switches,  without  relays,  are  installed,  each 
being  connected  to  one  of  the  two  main  bus  bars. 

For  each  feeder  cable,  a  300-ampere  oil  switch  is 
installed.  This  is  provided  with  an  overload  time-limit 
relay  set  to  operate  at  300  amperes  in  about  two  seconds. 

Space  is  provided  on  the  gallery  for  six  feeder  oil 
switches  for  each  substation,  these  switches  being  all 
connected  to  the  corresponding  group  bus  bar. 

In  all  these  oil  switches  each  phase  of  the  circuit  is 
isolated  in  a  brick  compartment,  each  compartment  con- 
taining two  brass  cylinders  partially  filled  with  oil. 
A  copper  rod  runs  through  a  stuffing  box  at  the  top  of 
each  cylinder  and  makes  contact  below  the  surface  of 
the  oil,  so  that,  whenever  a  switch  is  opened,  each  phase 
is  opened  at  two  different  points.  An  electric  motor  is 
employed  to  operate  the  switch,  this  motor  being  con- 
trolled by  a  miniature  switch  on  the  controlling  board. 
The  oil  switch  is  very  quick  in  its  action,  as  the  upward 
or  downward  movement  is  accomplished  by  means  of 
compression  springs,  while  the  motor  serves  to  follow 
up  and  compress  these  springs  for  the  next  movement  of 
the  switch. 

A  no-volt  storage  battery  supplies  current  for  the 
operation  of  the  oil  switch  motors  and  the  circuits  to 
these  motors  are  so  arranged  that  the  current  is  auto- 
matically cut  off  the  motors  at  the  end  of  each  opera- 
tion. 

Two  indicating  lamps,  placed  on  the  operating  board, 
are  provided  for  each  oil  switch  and  are  wired  to  con- 
tacts on  the  sw'itch  so  that  a  red  light  indicates  that  the 
switch  is  closed,  while  a  green  light  indicates  the  switch 
open. 

The  operating  switches  for  controlling  the  alternator 
oil  switches  are  placed  on  a  controlling  board  and  are 
arranged  with  miniature  bus  I)ars  which  indicate  to 
the  operator,  diagramatically,  the  connections  of  the 
circuits.  A  similar  controlling  board  is  provided  for 
operating  the  feeder  oil  switches. 

On   the    instrument    panels,    each    alternator    is    pro- 


26o  T  h  e    X  c  i\.'    Y  o  r  k 

vided  with  three  horizontal,  edgewise  ammeters,  one 
voltmeter,  one  indicating  wattmeter,  one  power  factor 
indicator,  and  one  recording  wattmeter. 

A  synchronism  indicator  is  placed  on  the  instrument 
board  and  connections  are  made  to  this  indicator  by 
means  of  synchronizing  plugs  and  receptacles.  In 
synchronizing  an  alternator  with  others  already  in 
operation,  the  indicator  pointer  moves  either  to  the 
right  or  to  the  left,  indicating  thereby  whether  the 
alternator  is  running  too  fast  or  too  slow.  WTien  the 
proper  speed  has  been  reached,  the  pointer  is  stationarj". 
The  oil  switch  is  closed  just  before  the  pointer  ap- 
proaches the  central  position,  for,  at  this  time,  the  speed 
of  the  alternator  which  is  about  to  go  into  service  is 
approximately  the  same  as  the  speed  of  the  other 
machines  and  the  alternations  are  also  in  synchron- 
ism. 

The  use  of  this  indicator  greatly  simplifies  the 
operation  of  synchronizing  and  is  found  to  be  preferable 
to  the  use  of  synchronizing  lamps. 

Each  feeder  cable  is  provided  with  three  ammeters, 
one  for  each  phase,  placed  on  the  instrument  board  of 
the  power  station. 

For  supplying  500-volt,  direct  current  to  the  lights 
and  auxiliary  motors  in  the  power  station,  three  800 
kilowatt,  six  phase,  rotary  converters  are  installed.  The 
coal  and  ash  handling  machiner}-,  boiler  feed  pumps, 
exciter  condensers,  and  crane  are  operated  by 
current  from  these  converters. 

The  engine  room  is  lighted  b}*  1,500  sixteen  candle- 
power  incandescent  lamps  fastened  to  the  columns  and 
to  the  under  side  of  the  roof  trusses.  The  lamps  are 
of  the  130-volt.  railway  type,  connected  four  in 
series. 

For  the  general  illumination  of  the  boiler  room,  arc 
lamps,  supplied  with  500-volt  direct  current,  are  pro- 
vided, supplemented  by  incandescent  lamps  around  the 
gauge  glasses  and  boiler  feed  pumps. 


Electrical    Handbook  261 

DATA   OF   POWER   STATION    OPERATION 

The   men   employed   in   the   operation   of  the   power 
station  ma}-  be  classified  as  follows : 

Superintendence  and   ofiice   force 14 

Chemist     i 

Men  employed  on  electrical  apparatus : 

Switchboard  attendants    9 

Dynamo  tenders  and  cleaners 18 

Electrical   repairmen    7 

—  34 
Men  employed  on  engines : 

Steam  engineers  and  assistant  engineers i" 

Oilers,  wipers  and  oil  system  attendants 53 

Machinists   and   helpers 20 

Steam  fitters   and  helpers 7 

Blacksmith  and  helper 2 

—  99 
Men  employed  in  boiler  room  : 

Boiler  room  engineers  and  attendants 20 

Boilermaker,  helper  and  cleaners 19 

Stoker  operators  and  assistants 57 

Coal   handling   machinery   attendants 13 

Ash  handling  machinery  attendants 10 

Pump  men    9 

Mason  and  helper    2 

—  130 

Laborers  and  foreman    16 

Janitors  and  doormen   6 

Total     300 

In  the  operation  of  the  power  station  the  proportion 

of  expense  is  divided  as  follows : 

Operating  expenses    9-2-^5   per  cent. 

Maintenance   expenses    7.75 

The  operating  expenses  are  divided  as  follows  : 

Coal,  at  $3.15  per  gross  ton 71        per  cent. 

Labor  and  miscellaneous  expenses 20.88 

Water     vv  " 

Oil,  waste,  rags  and  grease 42 


262  T  h  c    N  c  zu    y  0  r  k 

'l"he  following  figures  are  given  to  show  a  comparison 
l)etween  the  cost  of  operation  during  the  summer  and 
winter  months.  Comparing  the  watt  hours  per  ton- 
mile,  it  will  be  seen  that  during  the  winter  months  the 
power  required  is  about  twenty-two  per  cent,  greater 
than  that  required  during  the  summer  months,  the  dif- 
ference being  due  almost  entirely  to  the  use  of  electric 
heaters  on  the  cars  : 

Summer  Months.  Winter  Months, 

Average  for  Average  for 

July,  Aug.,  Jan..   Feb., 

Sept.,  1903  March.  1904 

Average  K.W.   hours    (net) 

per  day   delivered 431,197  595.996 

Average  lbs.  coal  per  K.W. 

hour   (net)    2.649  2.610 

Average      lbs.      water      per 

K.W.    hour    (net) 23.21  24.17 

Average   lbs.    water   per    lb. 

coal     9.C0  9.27 

Average  K.W^   hours    (net) 

per  car  mile   2.566  3.35 

Average   Watt   hours    (net) 

per  ton  mile 100.13  122.68 

Average  K.W.  per  car  from 

maximum    fifteen-minute 

readings    28.99  39-04 

HIGH   TENSION  CABLES 

The  power  is  transmitted  from  the  74th  Street  power 
station  to  the  seven  substations  through  three-phase 
cables  placed  in  underground  conduits.  The  longest 
distance  which  current  is  transmitted  is  about  5.3 
miles,  and  the  total  number  of  miles  of  cable  installed 
is  130.2. 

Each  cable  has  three  000  B&S  gauge  stranded  con- 
ductors, each  insulated  with  ^^  of  an  inch  of  paper 
saturated  with  insulating  compound.  The  three  con- 
ductors are  laid  together  with  jute  and  surrounded  by 
an  envelope  of   -j'^    of  an  inch  of  paper  insulation  with  a 


Electrical    Handbook  36^ 

lead  sheath  g^  of  'i"  '"^1''  thick  over  all.  This  cable  is 
2.64  inches  outside  diameter  and  weighs  8.8  pounds  per 
foot. 

An  insulation  resistance  of  not  less  than  fifty  meg- 
ohms per  mile,  at  sixty  degrees  Fahrenheit,  is  required 
and,  before  leaving  the  factory,  each  cable  length  is  sub- 
jected to  a  potential  of  30,000  volts,  alternating,  for 
thirty  minutes  between  conductors  and  between  each 
conductor  and  the  lead  sheath.  After  the  cables  are 
laid  and  jointed,  they  are  again  subjected  to  high  poten- 
tial tests  consisting  of  30,000  volts,  alternating,  for 
thirty  minutes  between  conductors  and  22,000  volts, 
alternating,  between  each  conductor  and  the  lead  sheath. 

The  cable  conduits  are  built  of  single  vitrified  clay 
ducts  of  five  inches  square  outside  and  eighteen  inches 
long,  with  a  hole  three  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter. 
The  ducts  are  laid  on  a  bed  of  concrete  four  inches 
thick,  with  three  inches  of  concrete  at  the  sides  of  the 
group  and  four  inches  over  the  top.  As  an  additional 
protection,  two-inch  creosoted  planks  are  laid  above  the 
top  layer  of  concrete.  The  layers  of  ducts  are  flushed 
with  thin  cement  as  they  are  laid.  Cable  manholes,  six 
feet  by  eight  feet  inside,  are  built  from  200  to  500  feet 
apart,  the  length  depending   upon   local  conditions. 

The  joints  in  the  cables  are  made  in  the  cable  man- 
hole and  each  cable  is  wrapped  with  asbestos  cloth  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  secured  in  place  by 
bands  of  galvanized  iron.  This  wrapping  is  for  the 
purpose  of  localizing  any  trouble  which  may  occur,  so 
that  a  burn-out  in  one  cable  will  not  be  communicated 
to  adjacent  cables. 

Where  the  cables  cross  beneath  the  Harlem  River, 
submarine  cable  is  installed,  each  conductor  of  which  is 
insulated  with  /^  of  an  inch  of  forty  per  cent,  pure 
Para,  the  three  conductors  being  laid  up  in  jute 
and  surrounded  by  a  lead  sheath  rh  of  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness, and  the  whole  being  protected  by  two  steel  tapes 
wound  in  reverse,  which,  in  turn,  are  covered  by  tarred 
jute. 


264 


The    N  ezv    Y  0  r  k 
SUBSTATIONS 


The  seven  substations  are  built  on  a  uniform  plan, 
the  buildings  being  in  all  cases  approximately  fifty  feet 
wide  and  one  hundred  feet  long. 

The  rotary  converters  are  placed  on  the  first  floor, 
which  is  level  with  the  street.  The  basement  is  taken 
up  by  converter  foundations,  with  space  for  blowers. 

A  gallery   seventeen   feet   six   inches   above  the  first 


Interior  of  Substation  Manliattan  Division 

floor  extends  around  the  four  sides  of  the  building. 
The  switchboard  is  located  across  the  front  of  the  build- 
ing on  this  floor,  and  the  step-down  transformers  are 
placed  along  the  side-galleries. 

There  are  two  floors  above  the  main  floor,  which 
were  built  for  the  possible  installation  of  storage  bat- 
teries. 

The  buildings  are  all  of  steel  construction  and  are 
fireproof  throughout.  The  first  story  of  the  front  wall 
is  built  of  granite,  above  which  the  wall  is  of  fire- 
flashod  brick. 


Electrical    Handbook  26 j 

In  each  substation,  with  the  exception  of  Substa- 
tion No.  5,  there  are  six  1,500  kilowatt  Westinghouse 
rotary  converters.  Substation  No.  5  has  five  converters, 
which  makes  a  total  of  forty-one  converters  in  all. 
These  converters  have  twelve  poles  and  are  arranged 
for  operation  at  250  revolutions  a  minute  on  a  three- 
phase  circuit  having  twenty  -  five  cycles  per  second. 
Each  converter  has  a  normal  output  of  1,500  kilowatts, 
namely,  2,400  amperes  at  625  volts,  the  alternating  cur- 
rent being  2,350  amperes  per  terminal  at  approximately 
390  volts.  The  guaranteed  efficiency  of  the  converters 
is  93-5  per  cent,  at  half  load,  95.75  per  cent,  at  full  load, 
and  96  per  cent,  at  25  per  cent,  overload. 

The  fields  of  the  rotary  converters  are  provided  with 
both  series  and  shunt  windings,  but  thus  far  the  shunt 
windings  only  have  been  in  use,  as  the  drop  in  voltage 
on  the  heaviest  loads  is  so  slight  as  not  to  require  the 
use  of  the  series  windings. 

For  the  purpose  of  starting  the  rotary  converters,  a 
motor-generator  set  is  provided  in  each  substation.  The 
converter  is  started  with  direct  current  from  this  start- 
ing set  and  brought  to  synchronism  by  means  of  a 
synchronism  indicator.  The  oil  switch  is  then  closed 
and  the  converter  fields  are  adjusted  so  that  it  takes  its 
share  of  the  load. 

Three  550-kilowatt  transformers  are  installed  with 
each  rotary  converter  to  reduce  the  voltage  from  11,000 
to  390  volts.  These  transformers  are  of  the  air-cooled 
type.  They  are  placed  on  the  gallery  above  the  con- 
verters and  over  an  air  duct  made  of  cement  on  ex- 
panded metal. 

Two  motor-driven,  direct-connected  blowers  in  each 
substation  furnish  air  at  about  one  ounce  pressure  per 
square  inch  under  the  transformers. 

The  guaranteed  efficiency  of  these  transformers  is  97 
per  cent,  at  half  load,  97.75  at  full  load,  and  97-70  at 
25  per  cent,  overload. 

The  transformers  are  tested  with  25,000  volts,  alter- 
nating, for  thirty  minutes. 

The  11,000-volt,  three-conductor  cables  which  supply 


266  The    N  c  zv    Y  o  r  k 

current  from  tlic  power  station,  enter  the  substations 
through  the  basement  wall  and  each  cable  terminates  in 
a  copper  end  bell.  From  the  end  bell,  three  single  con- 
ductor cables  run  to  an  oil  switch  which  has  instantane- 
ous overload  and  reverse  current  relays.  These  switches 
are  connected  to  a  set  of  three  bus  bars  provided  with 
knife  switches  between  the  connections  of  each  set  of  in- 
coming feeder  caljlcs,  so  that  the  cables  may  be  operated 
separately  or  in  multiple. 

An  oil  switch  for  each  rotary  converter  is  connected 
to  the  bus  bars,  and  single  conductor  cables  run  from 
these  oil  switches  to  the  550-kilowatt  transformers.  The 
oil  switches  are  placed  on  a  gallery  in  the  front  of 
the  substatii:>n,  directly  above  the  direct-current 
switchboard. 

The  direct-current  switchboard  carries  only  the  posi- 
tive bus  bar  and  its  connections,  'ihere  is  one  panel 
for  each  rotary  converter,  which  has  mounted  upon  it 
the  circuit  breaker,  ammeter,  double-throw  switch,  re- 
cording wattmeter  and  converter  starting  switch.  A 
spare  converter  panel  is  provided,  so  arranged  that,  in 
case  of  trouble  on  the  circuit  breaker,  the  current  may  be 
switched  to  the  spare  panel  while  the  necessary  repairs 
are  being  made. 

Each  direct-current  feeder  is  provided  with  a  panel 
having  mounted  upon  it  a  circuit  breaker,  ammeter, 
double-throw  switch,  and  a  spare  panel  is  provided  so 
that  repairs  may  be  made  on  the  circuit  breaker  when 
required. 

The  controlling  switches  for  the  operation  of  the 
11,000-volt  oil  switches  are  arranged  on  a  controlling 
board  with  indicating  lamps  and  with  miniature  l)us 
bars  which  indicate  the  circuits  diagramatically. 

The  oil  switch  on  each  incoming  feeder  is  provided 
with  a  relay  which  opens  the  switch  automatically  on 
reversal  of  current. 

Each  rotary  converter  is  furnished  with  one  200- 
ampere  ammeter,  one  3,000-kilowatt  indicating  watt- 
meter, one  power  factor  indicator,  one  recording  watt- 
meter, and  one  time-limit   relay  for  automatically  trip- 


Electrical    Handbook 


?6j 


ping  the  oil  switch  on  overload.  These  are  all  alternat- 
ing current  instruments.  The  time-limit  relay  is  set  at 
240  amperes,  or  about  2.7  times  full  load  current,  and 
operates  at  the  end  of  one  and  one-half  seconds. 

Each    substation    is    provided    with   a   twentv-five-ton 


electric  crane  placed  above  the  rotary  converters, 
and  two  five-ton  hand  cranes,  one  placed  above  each 
transformer  gallery 

A  representative  twenty-four  hour  load  on  a  substa- 
tion is  shown  on  the  accompanying  diagram.  This  load 
was  obtained  from  fifteen-minute  readings  of  flie  record- 


268  The    X  CIV    York 

ing  alternating  current  wattmeters.  The  momentary 
loads  are  about  forty  per  cent,  above  and  below  these 
readings,  due  to  the  simultaneous  starting  of  the  six-car 
trains.  In  service  the  converters  have  succssfully  car- 
ried as  much  as  one  hundred  per  cent,  overload  each, 
for  short  periods.  The  substation  load  in  the  winter  is 
about  twenty  per- cent,  heavier  than  that  shown,  due  to 
the  current  required  for  car  heaters. 

CONTACT  RAIL  AND  FEEDER  SYSTEM 

The  contact  rail  used  on  the  Manhattan  Division  is 
a  standard  section  of  the  Lackawanna  Iron  &  Steel 
Company,  weighing  one  hundred  pounds  per  yard, 
rolled  in  sixty-foot  lengths.  It  was  considered  advis- 
able to  use  a  heavy  rail  with  low  resistance  in  order  to 
save  the  expense  of  additional  copper  cables,  and  the 
rail  was  made  of  a  special  composition  in  which  the  per- 
centage of  carbon  and  manganese  was  as  low  as  possible. 
The  resistance  is  about  eight  times  that  of  an  equal 
section  of  copper,  while  the  resistance  of  a  high  carbon 
rail  is  about  twelve  times. 

The  average,  composition  of  the  steel  in  this  rail  is 
as  follows : 

Carbon     03     per  cent. 

Manganese    341         " 

Sulphur    073         " 

Phosphorus    069        " 

The  rail  is  very  soft  and  would  be  quite  unfit  for 
ordinary  wheel  wear. 

The  direct  current  feeder  system  is  divided  into  sec- 
tions, each  section  covering  the  distance  between  two 
adjacent  substations.  The  contact  rails  for  up  and 
down-town  tracks  are  connected  with  cross  bonds  and 
usually  no  additional  copper  feeder  cables  are  required. 

Current  is  supplied  at  each  substation  from  the  posi- 
tive bus  bar  through  a  lo.ooo-ampere  circuit  breaker  and 
switch.  The  division  between  the  sections  occurs  oppo- 
site each  substation  and,  at  these  points,  a  gap  forty  feet 
long  is  left  between  adjacent  ends  of  contact  rails  so 


Electrical    Handbook  26g 

that  the  car  wirmg  on  a  single  motor  car  cannot  span 
across  from  one  section  to  the  next.  This  gap  is  made 
by  placing  two  strips  of  wood  together  with  sections 
of  Tee  iron  between  and  with  the  ends  of  the  Tee 
iron  one  inch  apart.  The  top  of  the  Tee  iron  is  on 
a  level  with  the  top  of  the  contact  rail. 

At  a  point  half  way  between  substations,  a  similar 
break  is  made  in  the  contact  rail,  and  this  break  is 
bridged  with  a  6,000-ampere  circuit  breaker  and 
switch  which  are  normally  kept  closed.  This  cir- 
cuit breaker  at  the  centre  of  the  feeder  section  en- 
ables the  section  to  be  divided  into  equal  parts  in 
case  it  is  necessary  to  localize  trouble. 

This  arrangement  of  the  direct  current  feeder  system 
utilizes  to  the  fullest  extent  the  conductivity  of  the  con- 
tact rails  and  enables  the  load  to  be  equalized  between 
adjacent  substations.  Additional  copper  cables  are  pro- 
vided whenever  the  drop  in  the  contact  rail,  at  a  point 
farthest  from  the  substation,  exceeds  a  predetermined 
amount,  based  on  the  laws  of  economic  operation. 
These  additional  feeders  are  made  up  of  1,500,000  CM. 
bare  copper  cable,  installed  on  glass  insulators  resting 
on  the  ties,  the  whole  being  covered  with  a  wooden  box 
made  of  two-inch  plank. 

The  contact  rail  is  installed  on  vitrified  clay  insu- 
lators about  six  inches  square  and  four  and  one-half 
inches  high.  These  clay  blocks  are  fastened  with  Port- 
land cement  to  malleable  iron  pedestals  which  are 
secured  to  the  ties.  The  design  provides  a  drip 
edge  on  the  under  surface  of  the  insulating  block. 
Malleable  iron  clips  are  clamped  to  the  top  of  the 
insulating  block,  which  serve  to  hold  the  contact 
rail  in  place  with  a  generous  allowance  for  both 
horizontal  and  vertical  clearance. 

The  expansion  of  the  contact  rail  is  provided  for  by 
dividing  it  into  300-foot  sections  and  providing  three- 
inch  expansion  joints  at  the  ends  of  these  sections.  At 
the  center  of  the  sections,  special  clips  are  used  which 
anchor  the  rail  firmly  to  the  ties. 

The  rail  joints  are  bonded  with  four  solid  bonds  of 


2J0  The    N  c  tc    Y  o  r  k 

drop  forged  copper.  The  total  sectional  area  of  the 
bonds  is  such  that  the  conductiv^ity  is  slightly  greater 
than  that  of  the  contact  rail.  Two  of  these  bonds  are 
riveted  to  the  base  and  two  to  the  web  of  the  rail.  The 
rails  are  held  together  by  means  of  two  short  malleable 
iron  splice  bars. 

The  expansion  joints  are  bonded  with  four  extra 
flexible  cables  with  copper  terminals  cast  and  drop- 
forged  to  the  ends  of  the  cal)lcs.  The  malleable  iron 
splice  bars  are  slotted  and  allow  for  a  maximum 
movement  of  three  inches. 

At  crossovers,  turnouts  and  other  points  where  the 
continuity  of  the  rail  is  necessarily  interrupted,  cast 
iron  inclines  are  secured  to  the  ends  of  the  contact  rail 
to  guide  the  contact  shoes  up  to  and  down  from  the 
level  of  the  rail. 

A  wooden  guard  strip  is  bolted  to  the  outside  of  the 
contact  rail  in  order  to  protect  emplo^'ees  and  also  to 
guard  against   short-circuits. 

For  the  negative,  or  return  side  of  the  direct  cur- 
rent feeder  system,  the  elevated  structure  and  track 
rails  are  bonded  together,  thus  forming  a  return 
path  of  great  ci  )nductivit3-,  so  that  the  drop  in  the 
return  circuit  is  ver}-  small.  The  track  rails  are 
ninety-pound  high  carbon  rails  bonded  together 
with  one  oooo  bond  per  joint.  At  intervals  of  ninety 
feet,  the  track  rail  is  bfinded  to  the  top  chord  of 
the  longitudinal  girder  by  means  of  a  000  flexible 
copper  bond.  The  upper  and  lower  chords  of  the 
longitudinal  girders  of  the  structure  are  bonded 
together  with  from  one  to  four  oooo  copper  bonds, 
the  number  of  bonds  increasing  toward  the  substa- 
tions. 

The  structure  and  track  return  is  connected,  by 
means  of  bare  1,500,000  circular  mils  caljle.  to  the  nega- 
tive bus  bars  in  the  substations. 


Electrical    H  a  n  d  h  o  o  k 


271 


CAR  EQUIPMENT 

In  deciding  upon  the  electrical  equipment  of  cars  to 
replace  steam  locomotive  service  on  the  Manhattan 
Railway,  it  was  important  to  take  advantage  of  the 
possibility  of  operating  trains  at  increased  speed,  but, 
as  increased  speed  demanded  additional  weight  on  the 
driving  wheels,  it  was  necessary  to  distribute  the  weight 
so  as   not   to   exceed   the   safe   bearing   strength   of  the 


Manhattan  Elevated   Railway  Train 


Structure.  The  "multiple  unit  system"  of  train  control 
was  adopted  as  the  only  system  which  fulfilled  all  the 
requirements,  and  two  years'  experience  has  demon- 
strated the  w^isdom  of  the  choice. 

The  local  train  service  on  the  Manhattan  Division 
requires  frequent  stops,  as  the  stations  are  about  1,775 
feet  apart.  The  time  occupied  by  the  stop  at  each  sta- 
tion during  the  hours  of  heavy  traffic  averages  about 
fourteen  seconds.  It  was  determined  that  the  most 
economical   speed    for  the    Manhattan    service   was    13.5 


2J2  The    N  eii:    York 

miles  an  hour  during  the  hours  of  maximum  traffic. 
During  the  hours  of  lighter  traffic,  the  time  occupied  by- 
stops  at  stations  is  enough  less  so  that  trains  are  run 
at  a  schedule  speed  of  15  miles  an  hour. 

Six-car  express  trains  are  run  in  the  morning  and 
evening  on  the  center  track  of  the  Ninth  and  Third 
Avenue  lines.  The  equipment  for  express  service  is 
identical  with  that  for  local   ser\ice. 

On  account  of  the  increased  rate  of  acceleration  and 
braking,  extensive  changes  were  required  in  the  old 
cars  and  trucks,  and  some  of  the  old  cars  were  consid- 
ered unsuitable  for  electric  service  and  were  retired 
from  use.  Four  hundred  and  ninety  of  the  best  of  the 
old  cars  were  altered  for  service  as  motor  cars.  In 
these  cars  a  motorman's  cab  was  built  in  each  end,  and 
the  platforms  were  rebuilt,  new  bolsters  put  on,  and  the 
car  sills  re-enforced.  Three  hundred  and  sixty  new 
motor  cars  were  purchased,  so  that  there  are  at  present 
850  motor  cars  of  the  Manhattan  type  in  service.  Four 
hundred  and  twenty-si.x  of  the  old  cars  were  altered  for 
trailer  car  service  by  re-enforcing  the  sills,  rebuilding 
the  platforms  and  supplying  new  bolsters.  The  vacuum 
brakes  were  removed  from  all  of  the  old  cars  and  re- 
placed by  Westinghouse  automatic  air  brakes,  the  old 
link  and  pin  couplers  were  replaced  by  Van  Dorn  draw 
bars  with  automatic  couplers,  the  Fintsch  gas  system 
was  removed  and  incandescent  electric  lamps  substi- 
tuted, and  the  steam  heaters  were  replaced  by  electric 
heaters. 

Thirty-si.x  open  cars  with  cross  seats  for  eighty  pas- 
sengers have  been  purchased  and  have  proved  very 
attractive  to  the  public  for  summer  use. 

Owing  to  the  great  increase  in  traffic,  250  of  the  new 
cars  which  were  built  for  the  Subway  service  have  been 
put  into  service  on  Second  Avenue. 

The  new  motor  car  bodies  were  built  to  conform  in 
general  design  and  appearance  to  the  best  type  of  cars 
developed  in  the  steam  service  of  the  road.  They  are, 
however,  made  stronger  in  construction  and  are  about 
1,400  pounds  heavier.     Each  car  provides  seats  for  forty- 


Electrical    Handbook  i'/j 

eight  passengers,  with  eight  cross  seats  at  the  centre 
and  the  remaining  seats  along  the  sides  of  the  car. 
SHding  doors  are  provided  at  the  ends  of  the  cars.  An 
interesting  feature  of  these  cars  is  the  arrangement  of 
the  motormen's  cabs,  which  are  built  inside  the  car  with 
folding  doors  and  with  hinged  seats  so  that,  when  not 
in  use  by  the  motorman,  the  cab  doors  are  folded  against 
the  ends  of  the  cars,  thus  enclosing  the  controllers  and 
air  brake  valves  and  the  seats  lowered  and  occupied  by 
passengers.  Underneath  the  hinged  seat,  a  motorman's 
seat  has  been  arranged,  supported  on  a  sliding  bracket 
so  that,  when  the  cab  is  to  be  occupied  by  the  motorman, 
the  hinged  seat  is  first  raised  to  a  vertical  position 
against  the  rear  wall  of  the  cab  and  then  the  bracket 
seat  dropped  into  position  for  the  motorman's  use. 

The  car  platforms  are  provided  with  swinging  gates 
operated  by  a  patent  gate  mechanism.  Folding  safety 
gates  are  also  provided  between  the  platforms  of  adja- 
cent cars. 

The  interior  finish  of  the  car  is  of  mahogany,  and  the 
ceilings  are  of  three-ply  whitewood  or  birch,  finished  in 
a  light  cream  color  with  stenciled  gold  leaf  ornaments. 
There  are  twelve  windows  along  each  side  of  the  car, 
spaced  so  that  the  posts  between  windows  come  oppo- 
site the  divisions  between  side  seats.  Pantosote  cur- 
tains, with  rolling  fixtures,  are  provided  in  preference 
to  the  wooden  shutters  formerly  used. 

A  headlight,  consisting  of  an  incandescent  lamp  in  a 
parabolic  reflector,  is  placed  at  each  end  of  the  motor 
car  at  the  centre  of  the  car  roof.  At  each  side  of  the 
headlight  is  placed  a  designation  signal  lantern  or 
"marker,"  illuminated  by  an  incandescent  lamp.  The 
four  sides  of  the  marker  are  painted  in  white,  red, 
green,  and  orange,  with  glass  bull's  eyes  of  like  color. 
The  colors  which  are  visible  from  the  forward  end  of 
the  car  indicate  the  destination  of  the  train.  The  marker 
is  turned  to  its  proper  position  by  means  of  a  spindle 
extending  through  the  car  roof. 

The  electric  heaters  are  arranged  in  three  separate 
circuits,  which  require  eight  amperes  each.     The  heater 


2  J. I  T  h  c    X  e  iv    York 

circuits  are  controlled  l)y  three  quick  -  break,  knife 
switches,  with  enclosed  fuses  mounted  on  a  slate  panel  in 
an  iron  box  placed  at  one  end  of  the  car.  The  heaters 
are  placed  beneath  the  side  and  cross  seats,  so  as  to  give 
an  even  distribution  of  heat  throughout  the  car,  and 
great  care  has  been  taken  in  the  wiring  to  ensure 
against  the  possibility  of  fire  originating  from  loose 
connections  or  damaged  insulation. 

Each  motor  car  is  provided  with  twenty-five  lO- 
candle-power  incandescent  lamps  for  interior  illumina- 
tion. The  lamps  are  placed  just  above  the  space  for 
advertising  signs  along  the  sides  of  the  car,  and  five 
lamps  are  placed  at  equal  distances  along  the  centre  of 
the  dome  ceiling.  The  switch  and  enclosed  fuses  are 
mounted  on  a  slate  panel  in  an  iron  bo.x  of  the  same 
design  as  that  for  car  heater  circuits.  The  wiring  is 
insulated  for  2,000  volts  and  runs  in  wood  moulding. 

The  motor  truck  was  designed  In-  the  engineers  of 
the  Manhattan  Division,  following  closely  the  master 
car  builder's  type  of  construction.  The  trucks  have  a 
six-foot  wheel  base.  The  truck  frame  is  made 
of  4"  by  ^V-i"  by  %"  rolled  angle  iron  weighing 
14.6  lbs.  per  foot.  This  section  was  used  in  preference 
to  a  forged  rectangular  bar.  as  it  not  only  reduces  the 
weight  for  equivalent  strength,  but  also  minimizes  the 
expense  of  construction. 

The  contact  shoes  which  transmit  current  from  the 
third  rail  are  supported  at  each  side  of  the  truck  by  an 
oak  beam,  the  ends  of  which  rest  on  the  coiled  spring 
seat  castings.  The  contact  shoes  are  of  cast  iron  and 
weigh  about  thirteen  pounds  each.  They  are  hung  on 
a  pair  of  cast  steel  links  which  allow  free  vertical  move- 
ment. A  flexible  copper  cable  is  connected  to  the  con- 
tact shoe  for  carrying  the  current.  The  casting  which 
supports  the  links  from  the  oak  beam  is  arranged  for 
vertical  adjustment  of  two  inches  to  allow  for  wear  of 
wheels. 

The  wheels  are  thirty-four  and  one-fourth  inches  in 
diameter,  and  allowance  is  made  for  a  reduction  of  two 
inches   in  tire  thickness.     The  rolled   steel  tires  are  se- 


E  1  c  c  t  r  I  c  a  I    H  a  n  d  b  o  u  k  ^75 

cured  to  a  cast  iron  centre  by  means  of  two  steel  rings 
of  the  Mansell  type  bolted  in  place  with  the  ends  of  the 
bolts  riveted  over.  The  wheel  has  eight  radial  spokes, 
oval  in  section,  which  form  a  part  of  the  wheel  centre 
casting. 

An  interesting  feature  of  these  wheels  is  the  method 
of  attaching  the  driving  gear  to  the  extended  hub  of  one 
wheel  by  means  of  a  shrink  fit.  The  extended  hub  is 
turned  to  a  diameter  iJ,, th  of  an  inch  larger  than  the 
bore  of  the  gear.  The  cast  steel  gear,  which  is  in  one 
piece,  is  then  heated  imtil  the  expansion  of  the  metal 
allows  the  gear  to  slip  on  over  the  hub  easih*.  This 
method  of  attachment  greatly  reduces  the  liability  of 
broken  axles,  for,  as  one  wheel  is  driven  directly  from 
the  gear,  the  tortional  strain  in  the  axle  is  reduced  one- 
half.  The  elimination  of  the  key  seat  removes  an  ele- 
ment of  danger,  for  breakage  of  axles  usually  starts  at 
this  point  of  w-eakened  section.  The  solid  gear  does 
away  with  the  necessit}-  of  gear  bolts,  which  are  always 
liable  to  become  loose. 

When  it  becomes  necessarj-  to  remove  a  gear,  it  is 
expanded  by  heat  until  it  slips  oflf  easily  from  the  ex- 
tended hub,  then  the  wheel  at  the  other  end  of  the  axle 
is  expanded  in  a  similar  manner  and  pressed  oflf  with 
light  pressure,  so  that  the  metal  is  not  scored  and  the 
wheel  can  be  replaced  after  a  new  gear  is  put  in.  After 
a  service  of  two  years,  not  one  of  the  gears  has  become 
loose  and  not  one  axle  has  broken. 

SLEET    AND    SNOW    SCRAPERS 

After  experimenting  with  manj'  devices,  which  prom- 
ised success  and  realized  failure,  the  Manhattan  manage- 
ment adopted  a  cast  steel  sleet  scraper,  w'hich,  in  con- 
nection with  the  installation  of  a  bus  line  cable,  has 
enabled  the  trains  to  run  without  delay  through  sleet 
and  snow,  as  demonstrated  by  last   winter's  service. 

Each  motor  car  is  provided  with  four  scrapers,  which 
are  fastened  to  the  oak  beam  supporting  the  contact 
shoes.     The  scraper  consists  of  six  parallel  blades  set 


276 


T  h  c    X  c  ti'    York 


diagonally  across  the  rail  at  an  angle  of  60°.  Each 
blade  is  Y^  of  an  inch  thick  at  the  bottom  and  increases 
to  I'V  of  31  inch  at  the  top.  The  steel  casting,  of  which 
the  blades  form  a  part,  is  supported  by  guides  which 
allow  a  vertical  movement  of  2]/^  inches.  A  flat  steel 
spring  is  arranged  to  press  downward  on  the  scraper 
casting  with  140  pounds  pressure,  which,  added  to  the 
weight  of  the  casting,  makes  a  total  pressure  of  165 
pounds  on  the  third  rail.  A  cam  with  a  wooden  lever 
attached  is  provided  for  raising  the  scraper  by  hand. 
Tripping  blocks  are  placed  along  the  road,  which,  when 
raised  into  position,  strike  the  cam  levers  and  trip  the 
scrapers   down  as   the  train  passes.     It   is   necessary  to 


Contact  Shoe  and  Sleet  Scraper,  Manhattan  Division 


have  the  third  rail  in  good  alignment  with  all  expansion 
joints  beveled  in  order  to  avoid  breaking  the  scrapers. 

The  bus  line  serves  to  connect  all  of  the  contact 
shoes  together  in  multiple,  so  that,  in  case  of  snow  or 
sleet,  e\en  if  the  forward  shoes  do  not  make  contact, 
the  rear  shoes  will  supply  current  to  all  motors  through- 
out the  train  through  the  bus  cable.  The  bus  line  also 
prevents  the  "flashing  over"  of  the  motors  that  frequently 
results  without  its  use.  when  a  contact  shoe  jumps  and 
1:)reaks  the  circuit  while  the  car  is  running  in  multiple 
at  high  speed. 

In  order' to  protect  the  bus  line  from  excessive  cur- 
rents, two  750-ampere  copper  ribbon  fuses  are  placed 
in  the  circuit  under  each  motor  car. 


Electrical    Handbook  ^7/ 

VICTORS 

Each  six-car  train  is  supplied  with  eight  motors 
placed  two  on  a  truck  on  each  of  four  motor  cars. 
There  are  used  in  the  equipment  1,674  motors,  known  as 
General  Electric  Type  No.  66.  Each  motor  is  rated  at 
125  H.P.,  based  on  a  temperature  rise  of  75°  C.  above 
the  surrounding  air,  after  a  one-hour  run  at  full  load, 
the  air  temperature  not  exceeding  25^  C. 

The  motor  shell  or  frame  is  made  of  cast  steel,  in 
one  piece.  The  ends  of  this  shell  are  bored  large  enough 
to  permit  the  removal  of  the  armature,  after  taking  out 
the  frame  heads  which  carry  the  armature  shaft  bear- 
ings. The  bearings  are  lubricated  by  the  use  of  oil  and 
waste  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  a  car  axle  journal. 
The  four  field  coils  are  wound  with  strip  copper  insu- 
lated with  mica  and  asbestos.  These  coils  are  encased 
in  metal  spools,  which  protect  the  coils  from  moisture 
and  from  mechanical  injury,  and  facilitate  the  radiation 
of  heat.  The  pole  pieces  are  made  of  laminated  iron, 
bolted  to  finished  surfaces  on  the  motor  shell.  The 
armature  conductors  are  separately  insulated  with  mica 
and  assembled  in  sets  of  five,  which  are  protected  with 
mica  wound  on  with  an  outside  layer  of  tape. 

The  insulation  is  subjected  to  the  following  tests 
before  leaving  the  factor}- : 

Volts,  A.  C. 
Armature  windings,  Ijetween  conductors  and  core.   3,500 

Commutator,  between  segments  and  shell 4,500 

Commutator,  between  adjacent  segments  500 

Field  coils,  between  windings  and  frame 500 

The  gears  are  made  of  cast  steel  in  one  piece,  bored 
to  shrink  on  the  extended  hub  of  the  wheel.  The  pinion 
is  made  of  hammered  steel  with  tapered  fit  on  the  arma- 
ture shaft,  and  the  teeth  are  five  inches  wide. 

The  weight  of  the  motor  complete,  with  gear  and 
gear  case,  is  4.422  pounds.  The  gear  alone  weighs  313 
pounds  and  the  gear  case  144  pounds. 

The  General  Electric  Tj-pe  "M"'  control  apparatus,  in 
use   on    the   motor   cars,    embraces   a   number   of   elec- 


278  The    X  ci.'    York 

trically  operated  switclies,  called  "contactors,"  and  an 
electrically  operated  reverse  switch  called  the  "reverser." 
The  contactors  and  reversers  are  operated  simnltane- 
ously  on  all  the  motor  cars  of  the  train  from  the 
master  controller,  which  is  turned  on  and  off  by  the 
motorman.  A  nine-wire  cable,  with  suitable  couplers 
between  the  cars,  runs  throughout  the  train,  connecting 
the  master  controller  and  the  contactors  and  re- 
versers. 

1  he  successive  operation  of  the  contactors  cuts  out 
the  resistance  boxes  and  makes  the  series  and  parallel 
combination  in  a  manner  identical  with  the  ordinary 
hand  controller  in  street  car  use.  and  the  position  of  the 
master  controller  indicates  to  the  motorman  the  i)o>ition 
of  the  contactors  on  all  cars. 

The  rate  of  acceleration  of  the  train  is,  therefore,  in 
the  immediate  control  of  the  motorman.  The  master 
controller  handle  is  so  arranged  that,  if  the  motorman 
removes  his  hand,  the  current  is  at  once  cut  off  from  all 
motors  in  the  train. 

The  reversers  are  operated  by  the  reverse  switch  of 
the  master  contr.,i!er,  and  are  interlocked  so  that  they 
can  rmly  be  thrown  when  current  is  off  the  motors. 

A  cut-out  switch  is  provided  on  each  motor  car,  so 
that  the  contactors  and  reverser  on  this  car  can  be  cut 
out  without  affecting  the  operation  of  the  apparatus  on 
the  remaining  cars.  The  operating  coils  of  the  con- 
tactors are  wound  for  working  at  a  maximum  potential 
of  6co  volts  without  undue  heating,  and  will  successfully 
operate  at  300  volts.  At  550  volts  line  potential,  the 
current  required  for  the  operation  of  the  contactors  on 
each  car  is  about  2.5  amperes. 

'Ihe  weight  of  the  complete  control  apparatus  on 
each  motor  car  is  1,733  pounds,  exclusive  of  the  wiring. 

In  service,  this  control  apparatus  has  proved  to  be 
very  reliable  and  the  cost  of  maintenance  is  much  less 
than  was  anticipated.  As  a  rule,  the  only  parts  that 
require  renewal  at  the  end  of  one  year's  service  are  the 
removable  copper  tips  that  make  and  break  the  motor 
current  on  the  contactors.      The  contactors  are  hung  in 


E  I  c  c  t  r  i  c  a  1    H  a  n  d  h  o  o  k  2/0 

a  row  on  the  under  side  of  the  car  body,  where  th(>y  are 
easily  accessible  for  inspection,  which  is  made  once 
every  three  days. 

The  greatest  care  has  been  taken  in  the  installation 
of  the  car  wiring  to  reduce  the  fire  risk  to  a  minimum. 
All  the  wiring  is  done  with  stranded  cable  and  the  con- 
nections between  the  trucks  and  car  body  are  extra 
tlexible.  The  main  motor  cables  are  insulated  with  Z^- 
of  an  inch  of  rubber  having  not  less  than  thirty  per  cent. 
Para  and  covered  with  double  weather-proof  braid. 

The  entire  under  surface  of  the  car  is  lined  with 
one-fourth  inch  asbestos  board,  and  the  cables  are  all 
placed  below  this  fireproof  sheath  in  continuous  moulded 
forms  of  the  same  material. 

The  main  wiring  is  protected  against  undue  heating, 
from  accidental  short-circuit,  by  400  ampere  enclosed 
fuses  placed  in  the  circuit  immediately  above  each  con- 
tact shoe.  These  fuses  are  protected  from  the  weather 
by  oak  boxes  lined  with  asbestos  and  with  ventilating 
spaces.  The  fuses  have  been  developed  after  tests  cov- 
ering a  year  or  more  and  are  able  to  successfully  open 
a  dead  short-circuit  of  15,000  to  iS,ooo  amperes,  with 
almost  no  noise  and  little  smoke. 

A  copper  ribbon,  400-ampere  fuse,  placed  in  an  as- 
bestos-lined box  under  the  car,  serves  as  an  additional 
protection  to  the  motors.  In  case  of  overload,  this  fuse 
will  blow  before  the  contact  shoe  fuses,  as  there  are  at 
least  two  of  them  in  multiple  for  each  motor  car. 

During  construction,  all  the  car  wiring  was  subjected 
to  a  test  of  2,000  volts  alternating  for  one  minute,  and 
the  same  test  is  applied  to  the  wiring  each  time  the  car 
is  in  the  shop  for  general  repairs. 

The  cars  are  equipped  with  Westinghouse  automatic 
air  brakes.  The  air  is  supplied  by  motor-driven  com- 
pressors. One  compressor  is  placed  under  each  motor 
car.  The  compressors  are  simultaneously  stopped  and 
started  by  automatic  governors,  so  that  the  air  supply 
in  the  storage  reservoirs  is  kept  between  the  limits  of 
85  and  95  pounds  pressure. 

A  balance  wire  is  run  throughout  the  train,  so  that. 


28o  The    New    Y  o  r  k 

whenever  one  governor  acts,  all  the  compressor  motors 
are  started,  and  they  continue  to  run  until  the  last  gov- 
ernor has  cut  out.  The  storage  reservoirs  on  all  cars  in 
the  train  are  connected  by  a  reservoir  pipe  in  order  to 
equalize  the  pressure.  The  weight  of  each  compressor 
is  about  eight  hundred  pounds. 

PRIVATE  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM 

In  order  to  facilitate  communication,  a  private  tele- 
phone system  has  been  installed,  comprising  about  four 
hundred  telephones  for  the  ^lanhattan  Division,  and  two 
hundred  additional  telephones  will  soon  be  installed  for 
the  Subway  Division.  A  telephone  is  provided  in  the 
ticket  office  of  each  passenger  station,  and  all  executive 
offices,  switch  towers,  car  shops,  substations  and  power- 
house are  also  provided  with  telephones. 

These  telephones  are  connected  on  what  is  known  as 
a  "common  battery"  system,  with  a  central  exchange 
located  near  the  centre  of  the  system  at  99th  Street  and 
Third  Avenue. 

It  is  of  interest  to  know  that  the  length  of  line  from 
the  exchange  to  the  most  distant  instrument  is  about 
nine  miles,  which  is  considerably  more  than  is  usual  On 
common  battery  systems  where  the  telephone  wires  are 
in  lead  covered  cables. 

The  telephones  in  passenger  station  ticket  offices  are 
bridged  together,  two  on  one  circuit,  but  all  other  tele- 
phones have  a  separate  wire  to  the  exchange  board. 

The  telephone  wires  are  No.  19  B&S  gauge,  with  drj' 
paper  insulation  made  up  into  lead  covered  cables.  The 
cables  contain  from  five  to  one  hundred  pairs  of  wires 
each,  and  are  suspended  from  the  elevated  structure  on 
span  wires  supported  at  the  structure  columns.  It  is 
necessary  to  use  every  precaution  to  guard  against  the 
vibration  or  bending  of  the  lead  sheath,  as  it  is  found 
that  continued  movement  of  any  kind  soon  causes  crj's- 
tallization  of  the  lead. 

For  the  Subway  Division,  the  telephone  cables  are 
nm  in  underground  ducts  in  the  walls  of  the  subway. 


Electrical    Handbook  281 

The  telephone  exchange  is  provided  with  positions 
for  six  operators,  and  the  present  service  requires  four 
operators  during  the  busiest  hours.  The  telephone 
exchange  is  complete  and  modern  in  every  particu- 
lar, and  the  same  conveniences  for  the  telephone 
operators  have  been  provided  as  are  found  in  the 
large  exchanges  throughout  the  city. 

This  telephone  system  is  found  to  be  of  great  service 
in  the  transaction  of  Company  business,  and  it  is  espe- 
cially valuable  in  that  it  provides  a  means  of  prompt  com- 
munication to  all  points  on  the  line  whenever  accidents 
or  delays  to    traffic  of  any  kind  occur. 

LIGHTING  SYSTE^I 

A  complete  system  of  electric  lighting  has  been  in- 
stalled at  the  passenger  stations,  car  barns,  and  other 
buildings  belonging  to  the  Company,  which  takes  the 
place  of  the  gas  service  formerly  in  use. 

The  lighting  system  is  supplied  by  2,500-volt,  twenty- 
five-cycle,  alternating  current,  distributed  through  three- 
conductor  cables  installed  on  glass  insulators  on  the 
structure.  The  current  is  supplied  by  transformers 
which  reduce  the  voltage  from  11,000  to  2,500  volts.  A 
set  of  three  of  these  transformers  of  79  kilowatts  each, 
is  installed  at  each  of  the  seven  substations  to  supply 
current  for  lights  at  the  passenger  stations  and  shops 
located  nearest  to  this  substation. 

At  each  passenger  station,  a  transformer  is  located 
which  lowers  the  voltage  from  2,500  to  120  volts.  The 
neutral  point  of  the  secondary  winding  is  permanently 
grounded  to  avoid  possible  danger  from  shocks  due  to 
accidental  grounding  of  the  primary  winding.  Each 
transformer  is  provided  with  a  2,500-volt  switch  and 
fuses.  The  loads  on  the  three  phases  of  the  feeder 
cables  are  balanced  by  connecting  the  transformers  alter- 
nately across  different  phases. 

Each  passenger  station  is  provided  with  about  100 
sixteen  candle  -  power,  sixty  -  four  watt,  lamps.  These 
lamps  are  wired  on  circuits  of  approximately  ten  lights 


282  T  h  c    X  c  li'    Y  o  r  k 

eacli,  these  circuits  being  controlled  from  a  panel  switch- 
board placed  in  the  waiting  room.  All  of  the  wiring  is 
enclosed  in  loricated  conduit  pipes. 

For  the  illumination  of  the  yards,  clusters  of  ten  six- 
teen candle-power  incandescent  lamps  are  used.  These 
clusters  are  placed  with  a  twenty-seven-inch  reflector 
at  the  top  of  a  three-inch  iron  pipe  pole  twenty-five  feet 
above  the  tracks.  These  lights  are  wired  five  in  series 
and  fed  from  the  third  rail. 

The  lighting  system  comprises  about  25,000  incan- 
descent lamps  in  ail,  of  which  14,000  are  at  the  passenger 
stations,  the  remainder  being  used  in  shops,  inspection 
sheds  and  other  buildings,  and  in  the  illumination  of 
the  vards. 


Electrical  Equipment  of  hiterborough 
Rapid  Transit  Company:  Subway 
Division 

ON  February  21,  1900.  a  contract  was  executed 
with  Jolin  B.  ^IcDonald  for  the  construction 
of  the  Subway,  which  is  now  practically  com- 
pleted. This  contract  was  carried  out  by  pri- 
vate enterprise,  with  financial  backing  guaranteed  by  the 
city,  and  a  provision  was  made  for  reversion  of  the  prop- 
erty to  the  city  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  free  and  clear 
of  all  encumbrances. 

The  formal  opening  of  construction  work  was  made 
at  the  City  Hall  Park  on  [March  24,  1900.  The  contract 
covered  the  construction  of  a  four-track  subway  from 
City  Hall  to  g6tli  Street,  a  distance  of  6.71  miles;  an 
extension  on  the  west  side  of  the  city  to  Kingsbridge, 
made  up  of  3.85  miles  of  three-track  construction,  and 
three  miles  more  of  two-track  construction ;  and  an  ex- 
tension on  the  east  side  of  the  city  to  Bron.K  Park  of  2.89 
miles  of  three-track  and  4.24  miles  of  two-track  con- 
struction, making  a  total  of  20.69  niiles  of  subway 
and  elevated  structure,  providing  for  63  miles  of 
single  track.  In  this  distance  there  are  10.6  miles  of 
subway'  built  with  steel  columns  supporting  the 
street,  4.5  miles  of  concrete  arch  construction,  and 
5.0  miles  of  elevated  structure — the  latter  construc- 
tion being  employed  only  at  the  outlj^ing  ends  of  the 
line  and  where  the  contour  of  the  ground  made  the 
elevation  of  the  tracks  necessary  in  order  to  obviate 
steep  grades.  The  line  was  divided  into  nineteen 
sections,  and  the  construction  of  these  sections  was 
sublet  to  various  contractors. 

The  contract  also  covered  the  furnishing  and  instal- 

283 


Electrical    Handbook 


28^ 


lation  of  power  station,  substations,  power  transmission 
lines,  and  rolling  stock  for  the  operation  of  the  line. 

The  amount  of  power  for  the  operation  of  the  trains 
is  based  on  the  number  and  weight  of  the  cars  to  be 
operated  and  the  character  of  the  service  to  be  rendered. 


The  local  service  will  consist  of  five-car  trains,  which 
will  run  on  one-minute  headway  on  the  main  part  of 
the  line,  with  alternate  trains  to  each  branch.  The  con- 
tract calls  for  a  speed  of  fourteen  miles  an  hour  from 
end  to  end  of  the  line,  but  it  is  hoped  that  this  speed 


286  The    X  c  zi'    York 

will  be  exceeded  by  two  miles  an  hour.  The  average 
distance  between  stations  is  2,300  feet. 

The  express  service  will  consist  of  eight  car  trains, 
which  will  run  from  City  Hall  to  96th  Street  with  stops 
at  14th,  42d  and  72d  Streets.  These  trains  will  run  on 
a  two-minute  headway  to  96th  Street,  alternate  trains 
going  to  the  east  and  west  side  branches.  The 
average  distance  between  express  stations  is  8,500 
feet. 

The  combined  express  and  local  service  requires 
about  seven  hundred  cars,  and  the  power  required  when 
the  maximum  number  of  trains  are  on  the  line  is  esti- 
mated to  be  52.300  kilowatts. 

POWER  STATION 

The  power  station  is  located  on  the  Xorth  River,  be- 
tween 58th  and  5gth  Streets.  It  is  built  to  contain  eleven 
5.000  kilowatt  engine  driven  alternators,  which  furnish 
power  for  Subway  cars,  and  four  1,250  kilowatt  turbine 
driven  alternators  for  supplying  lights  in  the  Subway. 
The  building  is  201  feet  in  width  and  690  feet  in  length. 
The  property  extends  no  feet  west  of  the  present  build- 
ing to  the  North  River,  leaving  space  for  two  additional 
units. 

The  station  differs  from  all  the  other  large  power 
stations  in  New  York  in  the  arrangement  of  boilers. 
which  are  all  on  one  floor  placed  in  two  rows,  with  centre 
firing  aisle. 

Six  brick  stacks  are  to  be  built  for  the  present  build- 
ing in  line  with  this  centre  aisle,  supported  on  steel 
columns,  which  extend  nearly  to  the  roof  of  the  build- 
ing. The  stacks,  which  are  of  Custodis  hollow  brick, 
are  fifteen  feet  inside  diameter  and  22^  feet  above  the 
grates. 

The  foundations  for  building  and  machinery  rest  on 
solid  rock. 

The  exterior  walls  are  finished  in  pressed  brick  of 
grey  color,  with  terra  cotta  trimmings  and  with  green 
roof  tile. 


Electrical    Handbook 


287 


A  face  work  of  cut  granite  extends  around  the 
power  house  up  to  the  water  tahle,  above  which  face 
brick  of  a  liglit  grej'  color  is  used.  Wire  glass  is  used 
in  the  windows  which  have  cast  steel  frames.  All  flash- 
ing and  window  capping  is  made  of  copper. 


The  power  station  machinery  is  arranged  in  six  units, 
each  unit  consisting  of  one  stack,  twelve  boilers  and  two 
engines. 

The  nine  Allis-Chalmers  engines  ordered  are  of  the 


j'<^<S'  The    Nciu    York 

same  type  as  those  in  the  Manhattan  station.  The  two 
horizontal  high  pressure  cyHnders  are  forty-two  inches 
in  diameter,  and  the  two  vertical  low  pressure  cylinders 
are  eighty-six  inches  in  diameter. 

The  high  pressure  cylinders  are  supplied  with  poppet 
valves  instead  of  Corliss  valves,  so  that  superheated 
steam  may  be  used.  Each  engine  is  rated  at  7,500  indi- 
cated horse-power  when  operating  at  best  efficiency  at 
seventy-five  revolutions  a  minute,  with  175  pounds  steam 
pressure  at  the  throttle  and  twenty-six  inches  vacuum. 

The  guaranteed  steam  consumption  is  twelve  and 
one-fourth  pounds  of  dry  steam  per  indicated  horse- 
power per  hour,  at  7,500  indicated  horse-power  at  sev- 
enty-five revolutions  a  minute,  twenty-six  inches  vacuum 
and  175  pounds  steam  pressure,  this  steam  consumption 
to  include  all  steam  used  in  jackets  and  reheaters. 

Each  engine  is  provided  with  an  independent  con- 
densing equipment,  consisting  of  one  compound  vertical 
crank-and-flywheel  circulating  pump,  one  crank-and-fly- 
wheel  dry  air  pump,  and  two  condensing  cones.  These 
cones  are  placed  one  immediately  below  each  of  the  low 
pressure  cylinders,  at  a  height  of  about  forty  feet  above 
extreme  high  water  in  the  discharge  tunnel. 

The  pumps,  together  with  the  boiler  feed  pumps,  all 
of  which  are  steam-driven,  are  placed  in  a  continuous 
row  adjacent  to  the  division  wall  between  engine  and 
boiler  rooms. 

The  condensing  water  conduits  are  on  the  58th 
Street  side  of  the  power  station,  and  the  intake  tunnel 
is  provided  with  movable  screens.  Movable  screens  are 
also  provided  for  the  suction  pipes  of  the  circulating 
pumps. 

The  hot  well  seals  for  the  barometric  condensers  are 
on  the  basement  floor  under  the  engine  room,  from 
which  the  water  is  taken  through  tile  piping  to  the  over- 
flow conduit  in  58th  Street. 

The  boiler  jilant  for  the  present  installation  consists 
of  sixty  Babcock  &  Wilcox  horizontal  water  tube  boil- 
ers, each  having  6,000  square  feet  of  heating  surface. 
These  boilers  are  all  placed  on  one  floor  in  batteries  of 


Electrical    Ha  n  d  b  o  o  k  2S(^ 

two  boilers  each,  and  are  supported  on  the  steel  columns 
of  the  building.     Provision  is  made  for  superheaters. 

Grates  for  hand  firing  are  installed  for  the  first 
thirty-six  boilers  and  automatic  stokers  for  twelve  boil- 
ers. Each  boiler  has  one  hundred  square  feet  of  grate 
area. 

A  permanent  gallerj-  is  built  around  the  firing  aisle 
along  the  front  of  the  boilers,  about  ten  feet  from  the 
floor,  for  water  tenders  and  for  convenience  in  cleaning 
the  boilers.  A  hand  crane  is  also  provided  above  the 
firing  aisle  in  order  to  facilitate  construction  and  repairs. 

Coal  is  deposited  on  the  floor  in  front  of  the  boilers 
through  iron  chutes  from  the  coal  bunkers  above  the 
boilers. 

Provision  is  made  for  twenty  fuel  economizers  for 
heating  the  feed  water.  These  are  to  be  placed  immedi- 
ately above  the  boilers  with  a  main  flue  on  the  same 
level.  The  fuel  gases  from  sets  of  three  boilers  pass 
through  each  economizer,  with  dampers  and  by-pass 
flues,  so  that  the  gases  may  be  passed  directly  to  the 
stacks. 

Before  entering  the  economizers,  the  feed  water  is 
passed  through  auxiliary  heaters,  which  receive  heat 
from  the  exhaust  steam  from  the  steam-driven  boiler 
feed  pumps  and  circulating  pumps. 

Blowers  will  be  used  to  furnish  forced  draft  under 
the  grates.  There  will  be  twenty  blowers,  each  hav- 
ing a  capacity  of  56,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute 
at  a  pressure  equivalent  to  two  inches  of  water. 
They  are  each  driven  by  a  fifty-one-H.P.  compound 
steam  engine. 

Ten  steam-driven  vertical  feed  pumps  are  provided 
for  the  present  installation.  They  are  located  in  the 
engine  room  adjacent  to  the  division  wall  between  the 
engine  and  boiler  rooms,  one  opposite  each  engine  unit. 

These  pumps  are  vertical  compound  duplex  with  out- 
side packed  plunger.  The  steam  cylinders  are  twelve 
and  seventeen  inches  in  diameter  and  fifteen-inch  stroke. 
The  water  cylinders  are  eight  and  one-half  inches  in 
diameter. 


2Q0  The    New    York 

The  coal  is  unloaded  from  barges  ])y  a  movable  coal 
tower  which  runs  on  a  track  placed  on  the  pier  at  the 
foot  of  58th  Street.  The  coal  is  taken  from  the  barge 
by  a  steel  clam-shell  bucket  which  hoists  the  coal  to  the 
top  of  the  tower.  This  bucket  is  raised  by  a  200  horse- 
power direct  current  250-volt  motor  directly  connected 
to  the  hoisting  drum,  and  is  unloaded  into  a  hopper 
which  delivers  the  coal  to  crushing  rolls,  thence  to  weigh- 
ing hoppers. 

Beneath  the  track  upon  which  the  tower  runs  is  a 
belt  conveyor,  upon  which  the  coal  is  delivered  from  the 
weighing  hoppers.  This  conveyor  takes  the  coal  to  the 
bulkhead  line  and  unloads  upon  a  similar  belt  conveyor 
which  runs  through  a  tunnel  under  58th  Street  to  the 
westerly  end  of  the  power  station,  where  the  coal  is 
elevated  by  a  series  of  inclined  conveyor  belts  to  the 
level  of  the  top  of  the  coal  bunkers. 

The  coal  bunkers  have  a  capacity  of  18,000  tons; 
they  are  of  steel  construction  with  concrete  arches 
and  lined  with  cement.  Iron  chutes  take  the  coal  from 
the  bottom  of  the  bunkers  to  the  firing  floor  in  front  of 
the  boilers.  Two  lines  of  flight  conveyors  are  also  pro- 
vided and  placed  beneath  the  coal  bunkers,  so  that  diflfer- 
ent  grades  of  coal,  placed  in  individual  bunkers  may  be 
distributed  to  any  or  all  boilers  as  desired. 

The  ashes  drop  from  the  grates  into  hoppers,  below 
which  are  tracks  for  steel  ash  cars  drawn  by  storage 
battery  electric  locomotives.  The  cars  are  run  to  the 
west  end  of  the  building  and  across  Twelfth  Avenue 
to  a  dumping  pit.  from  whence  the  ashes  are  carried 
to  an  ash  bin  on  the  bulkhead  line  by  an  ash  con- 
veyor. From  the  ash  bin,  the  ashes  are  loaded  into 
barges. 

All  of  the  coal  and  ash  handling  machinery  is  driven 
by  electric  motors. 

The  engine  room  is  provided  with  two  electric  cranes, 
one  of  which  has  two  fifty-ton  hoists,  with  one  auxiliary 
hoist  of  ten  tons.  The  other  crane  has  a  twenty-five-ton 
main  hoist  and  a  five-ton  auxiliary  hoist. 

The  nine  5,000-kilowatt  Westinghouse  alternators  or- 


li  I  c  c  t  r  i  c  a  I    H  a  ii  d  b  o  o  k  2QI 

dered  are  designed  for  delivering  three-phase  current  at 
11,000  volts,  twenty-five  cycles,  at  seventy-five  revolu- 
tions a  minute.  These  machines  are  identical  in  size, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  details,  the  same  in 
construction  as  those  installed  in  the  ]\Ianhattan  station 
of  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company. 

Attention  may  be  called  to  the  frame  of  the  external 
armature,  which  has  a  small  keystone  section  so  arranged 
that,  in  case  it  is  necessary  to  remove  one  of  the  field 
spools,  this  section  only  need  be  lifted  out  by  the  crane. 

The  armature  windings  differ  in  design  from  those 
of  the  Manhattan  machines,  the  conductors  being  formed 
into  U-shaped  coils,  which  are  slipped  through  the  par- 
tially closed  slots  from  both  sides  of  the  armature.  The 
ends  of  the  U-shaped  conductors  are  bent  and  soldered 
together,  forming  closed  coils,  the  ends  of  which  are 
connected  to  other  similar  coils. 

For  excitation  of  the  alternator  fields,  there  are  pro- 
vided five  direct  current  generators,  each  having  an  out- 
put of  250  kilowatts  at  250  volts.  Two  of  these  units 
are  directly  connected  to  400  horse-power  marine  type 
engines.  Three  units  are  driven  by  365  horse-power, 
400-volt,  induction  motors. 

A  storage  battery  of  a  capacity  sufficient  to  carry 
the  exciting  load  of  the  station  for  one  hour  will  also  be 
provided.  A  motor-driven  booster  will  be  furnished  for 
charging  this  battery. 

The  auxiliary  direct  current  motors  in  the  plant  are 
driven  from  one  of  the  exciter  generators,  and  for  this 
purpose  each  generator  is  connected  through  double- 
throw  switches,  so  that  it  may  be  connected  either  to 
the  exciter  or  to  the  auxiliary  bus  bars. 

The  switching  apparatus  is  placed  on  galleries  built 
along  the  59th  Street  wall  of  the  engine  room.  Dia- 
gramatically.  the  arrangement  of  oil  switches,  bus  bars 
and  feeder  cables  is  similar  to  that  adopted  in  the  Man- 
hattan station,  and  relays,  operating  on  overload  and 
reverse  current  with  time  limits  are  provided  on  corre- 
sponding oil  switches. 

All  of  the  oil  switches  and  group  bus  bars  are  located 


20  2 


The    N  e  zv    York 


on  the  main  floor.  The  main  bus  bars  are  arranged 
vertically  in  two  lines  of  brick  compartments  extending 
the  entire  length  of  the  power  station,  placed  on  a 
gallery  below  the  oil  switches. 

The  switchboards  are  placed  near  the  centre  of  the 


S  J 


present  building  (in  a  gallery  about  thirt\^  feet  from  the 
engine  room  floor.  Separate  instrument  and  controlling 
boards  are  provided  for  twenty-five-cycle  power  circuits, 
and  for  sixty-cycle  lighting  circuits. 

The    arrangement    of   operating    switches,    miniature 


IL  I  c  c  t  r  I  c  a  I    H  a  n  d  b  o  o  k  2(j; 

bus  bars  and  indicating  lamps,  and  other  apparatus  on 
the  controlling  boards,  is  similar  to  that  in  the  Manhat- 
tan station.  The  instrument  boards  are  also  similar, 
but  have  one  ammeter  onlj'  for  each  feeder  cable. 

The  general  illumination  of  the  engine  room  is  pro- 
vided by  Nernst  lamps  arranged  in  clusters  supported 
from  the  roof  trusses  and  single  lamps  placed  around 
the  walls  about  twenty-five  feet  from  the  floor. 

In  addition,  si.xteen  candle-power  incandescent  lamps 
are  placed  on  the  engines  and  along  the  galleries.  The 
basement  is  lighted  by  incandescent  lamps.  The  gen- 
eral illumination  of  the  boiler  room  is  supplied  by  a 
row  of  Nernst  lamps  arranged  one  in  front  of  each  bat- 
tery of  boilers,  and,  in  addition,  there  are  lines  of 
incandescent  lamps  in  the  passage  ways  around  the 
boilers  and  incandescent  lamps  at  gauges  and  water  col- 
umns. 

The  boiler  room  basement,  pump  room,  economizer 
floor,  coal  bunkers  and  conveyor  lines  are  lighted  by  in- 
candescent lamps.  Arc  lamps  are  used  around  the  coal 
tower  and  dock. 

The  lights  on  the  engines  and  those  at  the  gauge 
glasses  and  water  columns  of  the  boilers  and  on  the 
pumps  are  supplied  from  the  direct  current  exciter  cir- 
cuits. The  other  incandescent  lamps  and  the  Nernst 
lamps  are  supplied  with  current  from  three  seventy-five 
kilowatt  transformers  connected  to  the  sixty-cycle  light- 
ing system. 

UNDERGROUND   HIGH   TENSION   CABLES 

Power  is  transmitted  to  the  substations  through 
ooo  B&S  gauge  three-conductor  cables  insulated  with 
y^  of  an  inch  paper  around  each  cable  and  3%  o 
an  inch  paper  around  the  group  with  /j  of  an  inch 
lead  sheath.  These  cables  are  placed  in  vitrified 
clay  ducts  built  in  the  side  walls  of  the  Subway. 

Suitable  manholes  are  provided,  which  open  into  the 
Subway  and  also  into  the  street.  In  these  manholes 
the  cables  will   be  covered   with  wrappings   of  asbestos 


294  T  /'  t'    -\'  c  ^>-'    York 

in  order  to  protect  adjacent  cables  in  case  of  a  burn- 
out. 

The  number  of  feeder  cables  running  to  each  sub- 
station is  the  same  as  the  number  of  1,500  kilowatt  ro- 
tary converters  installed  in  the  substation.  The  specified 
tests  on  these  cables  are  the  same  as  those  for  the  Man- 
hattan Division. 

The  longest  distance  current  is  transmitted  over 
these  cables  in  8.2  miles,  and  the  total  number  of  miles 
of  cable  is  147. 

SUBSTATIONS 

There  are  eight  substations,  located  four  on  the 
main  line  and  two  on  each  branch  at  an  average  dis- 
tance of  about  12,000  feet  apart. 

These  substations  are  designed  to  occupy  an  area  50 
by  100  feet,  but  individual  stations  vary  somewhat  from 
these  dimensions.  Foundations  are  provided  for  eight 
1.500-kilowatt  rotary  converters  in  each  station. 

The  buildings  are  designed  with  a  centre  aisle, 
lighted  by  sky  light  and  monitor  windows.  The  con- 
verters are  placed  on  either  side  of  this  aisle  with  trans- 
formers located  on  the  same  floor  next  to  the  side  walls. 

The  high  tension  cables  are  carried  under  the  base- 
ment floor  to  the  rear  end  of  the  basement,  where  the 
end  bells  and  static  arrester  compartments  are  located. 

The  oil  switches  and  bus  bar  compartments  are 
located  on  the  main  floor  immediately  above,  and  the 
alternating  current  and  direct  current  switchboards  are 
placed  on  a  gallery  across  the  rear  of  the  building. 

The  steel  work  of  the  building  is  designed  with  suffi- 
cient strength  so  that  two  floors  may  be  added  for 
storage  batteries,  should  their  installation  be  found  advis- 
able. The  front  wall  of  the  building  and  the  first  bay 
is  already  built  to  the  height  of  these  two  battery  floors. 

The  rotary  converters  diff^er  from  those  installed  in 
the  substations  of  the  Manhattan  Division  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  frame,  which  extends  down  below  the 
floor    level.     The     550-kilowatt    transformers    are    also 


Electrical    Handbook  2(^5 

nearly  identical  with  those  in  Manhattan  substations, 
but  have  less  inductance.  External  inductance  is  pro- 
vided which  will  be  connected  in  the  secondary  circuit 
of  the  transformers  should  it  be  desired  to  operate  the 
converters  as  compound  machines. 

The  controlling  and  instrument  boards  are  placed 
along  the  front  of  the  switchboard  gallery,  so  arranged 
that  the  operator  may  look  down  upon  the  main  floor 
over  the  controlling  bench.  The  alternating  and  direct 
current  instruments  are  placed  on  a  narrow  panel  sup- 
ported upon  columns  about  three  feet  above  the  con- 
trolling board.  The  alternating  current  instruments  and 
controlling  apparatus  are  substantially  the  same  as  those 
in  Manhattan  substations. 

The  direct  current  circuit  breakers  are  placed  at  the 
rear  of  the  gallery  in  brick  compartments,  and  are  pro- 
vided with  tripping  coils  operated  from  the  direct  cur- 
rent controlling  board.  The  direct  current  positive  bus 
bar  is  supported  on  the  back  wall  of  the  circuit  breaker 
compartment. 

The  direct  current  switches  and  instruments  for  the 
rotary  converters  and  feeders  are  placed  on  the  operating 
panel  at  the  front  of  the  gallery.  The  switches  are 
double  throw  and  provision  is  made  so  that,  in  case  the 
circuit  breaker  for  any  feeder  or  converter  is  damaged, 
the  current  maj-  be  transferred  to  a  spare  circuit  breaker. 

Each  direct  current  feeder  cable  is  provided  with  a 
switch  both  at  the  substation  end  and  at  its  point  of  at- 
tachment to  the  contact  rail,  so  that,  in  case  of  trouble, 
the  current  may  be  readily  cut  off  from  the  damaged 
cable. 

The  ii.ooo-volt  cables  from  the  oil  switches  to  the 
transformers  are  paper  insulated,  with  lead  sheath,  and 
are  supported  on  brick  shelves  built  out  from  the  side 
wall  of  the  basement. 

Air  for  cooling  the  transformers  is  furnished  by  four 
ninety-inch  motor-driven  steel  plate  blowers,  driven  by 
600-volt  direct  current  motors.  The  passage  way  be- 
tween the  converter  foundations  and  the  side  walls  is 
bricked  in  and  serves  as  an  air  duct. 


2lj6 


The    N  e  zu    Y  o  r  k 


CONTACT    RAIL,    DIRECT    CURRENT    FEEDER 
SYSTEM,    AND    NEGATIVE    RETURN 

The  contact  rail  weighs  seventy-five  pounds  per  yard, 
and  is  rolled  in  sixty-foot  lengths.  The  section  is  4^ 
inches  high  and  4^  inches  wide  at  the  base.  In  order 
to  increase  the  conductivity  of  the  rail,  carbon  and 
manganese  were  made  as  low  as  possible.  The  average 
composition  of  the  manufactured  rails,  from  mill  anal- 
yses, was  as  follows : 


Carbon    11  per  cent. 

Manganese    57        " 

Silicon    02         " 

Sulphur    04        " 

Phosphorus     09        " 

The  resistance  of  the  rail  is  about  eight  times  that  of 
an  equal  section  of  copper. 

The  contact  rail  is  supported  every  nine  feet  on 
insulating  blocks  of  "reconstructed  granite,"  which  are 
cemented  to  a  malleable  iron  pedestal  bolted  to  the  ties. 
Malleable  iron  clips  are  clamped  to  the  top  of  the  insu- 
lating block  and  serve  to  support  the  rail. 

The  contact  rail  centre  is  located  twenty-six  inches 
from  the  gauge  line,  and  the  top  of  the  rail  is  four  inches 
above  the  top  of  track  rail. 

Each  joint  is  bfinded  with  four  300,000  circular  mils 
stranded  copper  bonds,  with  drop  forged  terminals. 
Two  of  these  bonds  are  placed  under  the  splice  bars  and 
riveted  to  the  wcl),  and  two  are  riveted  to  the  base  of  the 


E  I  c  c  t  r  i  c  a  I    H  a  ii  d  b  o  o  k  2i)j 

rail.  Each  sixty-foot  rail  is  anchored  at  the  centre  and 
the  flexible  bonds  allow  for  one-half  inch  expansion  at 
each  joint. 

The  contact  rail  for  each  track  is  divided  into  two 
sections  between  adjacent  substations,  one  of  these  sec- 
tions being  supplied  with  current  from  each  substation. 
At  a  point  half  way  between  substations,  the  two  sections 
are  normally  closed  through  quick-break  switches. 

The  contact  rail  is  supplied  with  current  through 
feeder  cables  which  are  connected  to  the  rail  at  points 
along  the  line,  as  indicated  on  the  accompanying  dia- 
gram. This  arrangement  of  the  direct  current  feeder 
system  makes  it  possible  to  localize  a  short  circuit  on 
any  one  of  the  tracks,  and,  by  opening  the  switches 
placed  midway  between  substations,  trouble  is  localized 
on  one  track  half  the  distance  between  substations.  The 
feeder  cables  are  all  2,000,000  circular  mils  stranded 
copper  cable,  insulated  with  paper  and  covered  by  a 
lead  sheath. 

For  the  return  circuit,  one  rail  of  each  track  is  used, 
supplemented  by  copper  cables.  The  other  track  rail  is 
used  for  signalling  purposes.  The  negative  cables  are 
identical  in  size  and  insulation  with  the  positive  cables. 
The  track  rail  is  a  high  carbon  rail  weighing  100  pounds 
per  3-ard  of  American  Society  standard  section  in 
thirty-three-foot  lengths. 

The  joints  in  one  rail  of  each  track,  used  for  the 
return  current,  are  bonded  with  two  400,000  circular 
mils  copper  bonds,  placed  imder  the  splice  bars. 

CAR  EQUIPMENT 

The  five-car  trains  are  to  be  used  for  Subway  local 
service,  and  are  composed  of  three  motor  cars  and  two 
trailers.  The  eight-car  express  trains  are  to  have  five 
motor  cars  and  three  trailers. 

For  the  operation  of  the  present  Subway  lines,  700 
cars  are  ordered,  of  which  430  are  motor  cars  and  270 
trailer  cars.  Unusual  precautions  have  been  taken  in 
the  design  and  construction  of  these  cars  to  make  them 


2g8  T  h  c    X  c  tv    Y  o  r  k 

safe  against  the  risk  of  fire  or  mechanical  injury.  The 
motor  and  trailer  cars  are  alike  in  size  and  general  ap- 
pearance ;  they  are  fiftj'-one  feet  two  inches  long  over 
buffer  plates,  and  twelve  feet  high  above  the  top  of  the 
rail.  They  have  a  seating  capacity  of  fifty-two  passen- 
gers each,  with  cross  and  side  seats  arranged  the  same 
as  in  the  Manhattan  elevated  cars. 

The  platforms  of  all  cars  are  vestibuled.  At  the 
sides  of  the  platforms,  sliding  doors  are  provided,  which 
are  operated  by  levers  placed  on  either  side  of  the  front 
doorway  of  tJie  vestibule.  The  doorway  in  the  end  of 
the  vestibule  of  the  motor  cars  is  provided  with  a  swing- 
ing door,  which  normallj'  covers  the  master  controller 
and  engineer's  valve.      The  vestibuled  platfnrm  is  used 


Sul)\vay   .Motor  Car 

as  a  cab  on  the  motor  cars,  and.  when  the  cab  is  in  use, 
the  swinging  door  closes  the  doorway  in  the  end  of  the 
vestibule. 

Each  car  is  provided  with  twentj^-six  lo-candle-power 
incandescent  lamps  inside  the  car  body,  and  two  lamps 
in  each  vestibule.  The  motor  cars  have  two  destination 
signals  placed  at  each  end  of  the  car  roof.  Two  oil  lan- 
terns are  placed  at  each  end  of  the  train,  the  forward 
lanterns  showing  white  lights,  and  the  rear  ones  red. 

Each  car  is  provided  with  twenty-four  electric 
heaters,  placed  in  panels  under  the  seats.  A  heater  is 
also  placed  in  the  front  of  each  vestibule  in  the  motor 
cars.  The  heater  circuits  are  so  arranged  that  eight, 
sixteen,  or  twenty-four  amperes  may  be  used  in  heating 
the  cars. 


Electrical    Handbook  2C)g 

All  of  the  wiring  for  heater  and  lighting  circuits  is 
placed  in  flexiljle  metal  conduits.  The  switches  and 
fuses  for  heater  and  lighting  circuits  are  placed  on  a 
slate  panel  mounted  in  a  metal  box.  which  opens  into 
the  vestibule  at  one  end  of  each  car.  In  the  motor  cars, 
this  panel  is  made  to  accommodate  also  a  main  switch 
for  motor  circuits,  control  cut-out  switch  and  fuses  and 
air  compressor  switch  and   fuses. 

The  first  order  was  for  500  car  bodies,  which  are 
identical  for  motor  and  trailer  cars.  These  cars  have 
four  steel  sills  extending  from  end  to  end  of  the  plat- 
forms. The  entire  undersurface  of  the  car  is  sheathed 
with  specially  treated  asbestos  board  one-fourth  of  an 
inch  in  thickness,  and  the  sides  of  the  car  below  the 
windows  are  sheathed  outside  with  copper  in  order  to 
eliminate  the  risk  of  fire. 

An  order  has  recentlj'  been  placed  for  200  additional 
motor  car  bodies,  which  are  to  be  built  entirely  of  steel. 
These  cars  are  similar  in  appearance  to  those  above 
described,  and  have  the  same  general  dimensions.  The 
truss  rods  are  omitted  from  the  steel  sub-frame.  These 
cars  are  finished  inside  in  aluminum  and  have  a  singu- 
larly light  and  handsome  appearance. 

The  weight  of  both  types  of  motor  cars  is  approxi- 
mately the  same,  being  73,65a  pounds  complete,  with  two 
motors  and  without  passengers.  The  weight  of  trailer 
car  complete  without  passengers  is  51.650  pounds. 

The  motor  trucks  are  designed  to  accommodate  two 
200-H.P.  motors  each.  The  wheel  base  is  six  feet  eight 
inches,  and  the  wheels  are  33.25  inches  in  diameter. 

The  trucks  conform,  in  general  design,  to  the  master 
car  builder's  standard,  with  swing  bolster  of  cast  steel. 
channel  iron  tran.soms  with  supports  for  the  motor 
frame,  forged  steel  frame  and  equalizer  bars. 

The  wheels  have  steel  tires  with  cast  steel  centres. 
The  axles  are  double  hammered,  open  hearth  steel.  6.5 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  motor  bearings,  and  7y|  inches 
in  diameter  at  the  gear. 

The  weight  of  the  truck  complete,  with  gear,  but 
without  motors,  is  t 2.500  pounds. 


300  T  It  c    \cw    York 

The  design  of  the  trailer  trucks  is  similar  to  that  of 
the  motor  truck,  with  five-foot  six-inch  wheel  base  and 
thirty-inch  wheels.  The  axles  are  four  and  three-fourths 
inches  in  diameter.  The  weight  of  the  truck  complete 
is  8.9CO  pounds. 

MOTORS 

Eight  hundred  and  eight}-  motors  have  been  ordered 
for  the  car  equipment.  All  of  these  motors  are  nom- 
inally 200  horse-power  each,  and  were  specially  designed 
fur  the  Subway  service. 

The  Westinghouse  motor,  known  as  Xo.  86,  has  a 
split  cast  steel  frame,  the  lower  half  of  which  is  sup- 
ported at  the  front  end  by  a  bracket  on  the  truck  tran- 
som. The  motor  has  four  equal  field  coils  which  are 
wound  with  copper  ribbon  on  edge  and  insulated  with 
mica  and  asbestos  and  placed  in  a  water-tight  steel  shell. 

The  armature  windings  are  insulated  with  mica  and 
are  capable  of  withstanding  great  heat.  The  weight  of 
the  motor  complete,  with  gear  and  gear  case,  is  5,900 
pounds. 

The  General  Electric  Xo.  69  motors  have  a  cast  steel 
frame  in  one  piece,  and  the  general  design  is  similar  to 
the  General  Electric  X'^o.  66  motors  used  on  the  cars  of 
the  Manhattan  Division.  The  weight  of  the  motor  com- 
plete, with  gear  and  gear  case,  is  5.750  pounds. 

The  Sprague-General  Electric  Company's  multiple 
unit  control  apparatus,  used  on  all  the  motor  cars,  is 
substantially  the  same  as  that  adopted  for  the  cars  on 
the  Manhattan  Division.  An  additional  device  has,  how- 
ever, been  placed  in  the  master  controller  which  regulates 
the  rate  of  acceleration.  A  relay  is  connected  in  the 
circuit  of  one  of  the  two  motors  on  each  motor  car 
which  prevents  the  master  controller  from  turning  on  to 
successive  resistance  combinations  until  the  current  in 
every  relay  in  the  train  has  dropped  to  the  predeter- 
mined amount.  The  relays  are  normally  set  at  310  am- 
peres. 

The  master  controller  is  provided  with  attachments 
so   arranged   that    if  the   motorman    removes   his   hand 


Electrical    Handbook  ;oi 

from  the  handle  the  current  is  at  once  shut  off  and  the 
brakes  are  appHed.  To  accompHsh  this,  a  button  is 
placed  on  the  controller  handle,  which  must  be  pressed 
down  by  the  motorman.  If  the  motorman  removes  his 
hand  and  releases  the  button,  the  current  is  cut  off  the 
motors  and  the  air  brakes  are  applied. 

A  circuit  breaker  is  provided  in  the  main  circuit  on 
each  motor  car,  furnished  with  a  tripping  coil  which 
operates  on  overload  and  may  also  be  operated  by  the 
motorman.  It  has  also  a  resetting  coil  arranged  so 
that  the  motorman  may  close  the  circuit  breaker.  The 
motor  circuit  is  also  provided  with  a  750-ampere  copper 
ribbon  fuse,  placed  under  the   car. 

Stranded  cables,  insulated  with  rubber  thirty  per 
cent,  pure  Para  and  covered  with  asbestos  braid,  are 
used  on  all  the  motor  circuits.  On  the  motor  cars  first 
equipped,  this  cable  is  placed  in  asbestos  moulding  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  thick.  On  the  steel  cars,  the  cable  is 
drawn  into  iron  pipes. 

The  cables  are  protected  by  enclosed  fuses  placed 
immediately  above  each  contact  shoe.  A  bus  line  cable, 
protected  by  copper  ribbon  fuses,  is  connected  through- 
out the  train  to  all  the  contact  shoes. 

The  wiring  and  cables  on  all  cars  are  subjected  to  a 
test  of  2,000  volts,  alternating,  after  installation. 

The  cars  are  equipped  with  Westinghouse  automatic 
air  brakes.  Motor-driven  air  compressors  supply  air 
for  the  operation  of  the  brakes. 

Automatic  governors  are  arranged  so  that  all  com- 
pressors on  the  train  are  started  whenever  any  governor 
closes  the  circuit. 

SUBWAY  LIGHTING   SYSTEM 

Current  for  lighting  the  Subway  passenger  stations 
and  the  tunnel  itself  is  supplied  from  the  three  1.250- 
kilowatt  turbo-generators  of  the  Westinghouse-Parsons 
type  at  the  58th  Street  power-house.  These  generators 
deliver  three-phase  current  at  11,000  volts  potential,  and 
a  frequency  of  sixty  cycles.     The  entire  generating  and 


30^  The     X  c  zv    Y  0  r  k 

distributing  lighting  system  is  indtiHiuleiit  of  tlie  power 
equipment. 

For  the  distril)ution  of  tlie  current  from  the  58th 
Street  power  station,  three  Xo.  6  R&S  gauge  three-con- 
ductor cal)les  are  employed. 

At  each  underground  passenger  station,  a  transformer 
is  installed  in  a  brick  compartment  built  for  the  purpose. 
These  transformers  have  two  secondary  windings — one 
of  600  volts  and  the  other  either  115  or  230  volts.  The 
6oo-vi)lt  winding  supplies  sixteen  candle-power  lamps, 
wired  five  in  series,  attached  to  the  columns  in  two  rows 
at  intervals  of  about  si.xty  feet  along  the  tunnel;  also  a 
few  lamps  on  the  stairways,  platforms  and  ticket 
offices  of  each  station.  In  case  of  the  burnout  of 
a  lighting  transformer,  the  break-down  of  a  high 
tension  lighting  cable,  or  any  part  of  the  generating 
system,  these  600-volt  lighting  circuits  may  be  sup- 
plied with  600-voIt  direct  current  from  the  third  rail 
by  a  double-throw  switch. 

The  primary  winding  is  for  11,000  volts,  with  two 
loops  brought  out  so  that  an  adjustment  of  about  five 
per  cent,  range  can  be  made  to  compensate  for  varying 
distances  from  the  power  station. 

In  the  transformer  compartment  at  each  passenger 
station,  between  the  end  bell  of  the  ii.ooo-volt  cable 
and  the  transformer,  are  installed  three  single-phase, 
single-throw  disconnecting  switches,  and  four-ampere, 
11,000-volt,  enclosed  fuses  for  the  protection  of  the 
transformer. 

The  total  number  of  lights  on  the  entire  system  is 
about  8,700,  of  which  about  3.000  are  for  the  illumination 
of  the  tunnel.  Each  miderground  passenger  station  is 
provided  with  al)out  120  lights,  of  which  about  fifty  are 
thirty-two  candle-power  incandescent  lamps  for  illu- 
minating the  platforms,  and  the  remaining  seventj'  are 
si.xteen  candle-power  lamps  for  illuminating  the  ticket 
offices,  stairways,  toilets,  etc. 

.Ml  wiring  is  done  in  loricated  conduit.  The  conduit 
work  was  installed  before  the  comjiletion  (if  the  interior 


Electrical    H  a  n  d  h  o  o  k  joj 

station  decorations,  and  is.  imbedded  in  the  side 
walls   and   ceilings. 

The  neutral  points  of  all  transformer  secondary 
windings  are  permanently  grounded,  and  a  grounded 
metallic  shield  is  interposed  between  the  ii,ooo-volt  pri- 
mary and  the  secondary  windings  to  avoid  any  possible 
passage  of  the  high  tension  current  into  the  secondary 
wiring. 

Panel  heaters  are  provided  in  all  underground  pas- 
senger stations  to  warm  the  ticket  offices  and  closets. 
Direct  current  for  these  heaters  is  supplied  from  the 
contact  rail  at  6oo-volts,  and  controlled  from  the  same 
panel  board  which  controls  the  lighting  circuits. 

AUTOMATIC     BLOCK     SIGNAL     AND     INTER- 
LOCKING   SYSTEM 

The  Subway  lines  are  being  equipped  with  an  electro- 
pneumatic  block  signal  system,  supplemented  by  auto- 
matic devices  which  are  arranged  to  set  the  emergency 
brakes  on  any  train  which  may  disregard  a  danger  sig- 
nal. The  system  includes,  also,  electro-pneumatic  de- 
vices for  the  operation  and  interlocking  of  track  switches 
and  switch  signals. 

An  alternating  current  track  circuit  is  used  for  oper- 
ating the  signal  relays,  in  order  that  they  may  be  irre- 
sponsive to  the  differences  in  direct  current  potential 
occurring  in  the  track  rail.  The  power  for  energizing 
the  signal  rail  and  for  lighting  the  signals  is  supplied  by 
transformers  placed  at  the  e.xit  end  of  each  block.  The 
transformer  primaries  are  connected  across  500-volt, 
sixty-cycle  mains,  which  are  supplied  with  power  from 
seven  30-kilowatt  motor-generator  sets  located  in  the 
substations. 

The  signal  relays  above  mentioned  serve  to  open  or 
close  local  circuits  controlling  the  valves  of  the  air  cylin- 
ders which  operate  the  signals.  These  local  circuits  and 
the  circuits  for  operating  the  admission  valves  for 
switches  and  automatic  safety  stops  are  supplied  with 
current  at  sixteen  volts  from  storage  batteries. 


^04  T  h  c     X  e  7V    Y  o  r  k 

A  two-inch  air  pipe  runs  throughout  the  length  of 
the  line  for  supplying  air  at  sixty  to  seventy-five  pounds 
pressure  for  the  operation  of  the  pneumatic  cylinders  in 
signals,  switches  and  automatic  stop  devices.  Air  is 
supplied  to  this  pipe  by  eight  thirty-five  horse-power 
motor-driven  air  compressors  located  in  the  sub-stations. 


APPENDIX 


Appendix 


THE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OE  l-.LEC- 
TRICAL  ENGINEERS 

In  the  spring  of  1884  the  founders  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  conceived  the  idea 
of  establishing  a  permanent  electrical  society.  A 
circular  letter  was  mailed  to  the  electrical  engineers 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  inviting  their  co- 
operation. The  first  three  paragraphs  of  this  letter 
were  as  follows: 

"The  rapidly  growing  art  of  producing  and  utiliz- 
ing electricity-  has  no  assistance  from  anj^  American 
national  scientific  society.  There  is  no  legitimate 
excuse  for  this  implied  absence  of  scientific  interest, 
except  it  be  the  short-sighted  plea  that  every  one  is 
too  busy  to  give  time  to  scientific,  practical  and  social 
intercourse,  which,  in  other  professions,  has  been 
found  so  conducive  to  advancement. 

"The  American  Societies  of  Civil.  Mechanical,  and 
Mining  Engineers  which  have  been  so  prosperous 
and  of  such  great  advantage  to  their  members,  are 
good  examples. 

"An  International  Electrical  Exhibition  is  to  be 
held  in  Philadelphia  next  autumn,  to  which  many 
of  the  famous  foreign  electrical  savants,  engineers, 
and  manufacturers  will  be  visitors;  and  it  would  be 
a  lasting  disgrace  to  American  electricians  if  no 
American  national  electrical  society  was  in  existence 
to  receive  them  with  the  honors  due  from  their  co- 
laborers  of  the  United  States." 

This  appeal  was  signed  by  93  of  the  men  promi- 
nent in  the  electrical  field  at  that  time,  most  of  them 
connected  with  the  various  telegraph  systems. 
About  150  men  responded,  and  a  preliminary  meeting 

307 


308  Append  i  x 

was  held  on  April  15th,  1884,  at  the  headquarters  of 
the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers.  On  May 
I2th,  1884,  a  second  meeting  was  held  and  a  per- 
manent organization  effected. 

The  hrst  meeting  of  the  Institute  for  the  reading 
and  discussion  of  professional  papers,  was  held  at 
the  Continental  Hotel,  Philadelphia,  October  7-8, 
1884.  Annual  meetings  were  subsequently  held  at 
New  York  in  1885  and  1886.  On  June  8th,  1886,  the 
first  regular  monthly  meeting  was  held  at  the  Mills 
Building,  15  Broad  street,  New  York.  In  the  autumn 
of  1886,  the  regular  monthly  meetings  were  resumed 
and  have  been  continued  regularly,  excepting  July 
and  August  each  year,  since  that  time.  In  addition 
to  the  regular  monthly  meetings  an  annual  conven- 
tion is  held  each  year  some  time  between  May  and 
December;  the  last  convention  was  held  at  Niagara 
Falls,  June  29  to  July  3d,  1903.  The  next  conven- 
tionn  will  be  held  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  September 
14th,  1904. 

All  the  papers  read  at  Institute  meetings  are  sub- 
ject to  the  approval  of  both  the  Papers  and  Editing 
committees.  This  policy  is  rigidlj'-  adhered  to.  The 
papers  are  invariably  printed  and  distributed  in  ad- 
vance of  the  meeting  at  which  they  are  to  be  read 
and  are  printed  in  the  Proceedings  which  are  issued 
monthl}-.  At  the  end  of  the  calendar  year,  these  are 
bound  in  cloth  and  distributed  without  cost  to  the 
entire  membership. 

The  officers  of  the  Institute  consist  of  a  Presi- 
dent, six  Vice  Presidents,  twelve  Managers,  a  Secre- 
tary  and   a  Treasurer. 

The  affairs  of  the  Institute  are  managed  by  a 
Board  of  Directors,  consisting  of  the  officers  of  the 
Institute  and  the  two  junior  Past-presidents. 

There  are  three  classes  of  members,  known  as 
honorar)-.  full  and  associate  members.  A  full  mem- 
ber must  have  been  an  associate  and  must  be  not  less 
thpn  27  years  of  age. 

The  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 


Append  i  x  309 

Institute  occurred  on  May  12th  of  this  year.  On 
May  I2th,  1884,  there  were  97  charter  members;  on 
July  19th,  1904,  there  were  3,301  members  and  asso- 
ciates. 

At  its  September  meeting  in  1902.  the  Board  of 
Directors  appointed  a  Committee  on  Local  Organiza- 
tions for  promoting  the  organization  of  local  meet- 
ings. The  primary-  purpose  of  these  meetings  was 
stated  to  be  the  presentation  of  the  papers  and  dis- 
cussions of  the  regular  meetings  of  the  Institute  and 
for  the  discussions  of  them,  to  be  supplemented,  how- 
ever, b}'  new  papers,  especially  on  subjects  of  local 
interest. 

All  the  important  work  of  the  Institute  is  done 
by  committees  appointed  by  the  President.  There 
are  six  standing  committees;  these  committees  are 
in  close  touch  with  the  Secretary,  and  \\\^V.  him 
outline  the  policy  and  direct  the  routine  work  of  the 
Institute. 

The  special  committees  vary  from  time  to  time 
in  personnel  and  number.  At  present  there  are  21 
of  these  committees.  Each  committee  is  appointed 
for  a  special  purpose;  it  reports  to  the  President  and 
Board  of  Directors  through  the  Secretary. 

In  the  winter  of  1889-90,  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  engaged  in  an  effort  to  pro- 
vide itself  with  suitable  quarters,  and  the  proposition 
was  made  to  the  Institute  that  should  a  house  be 
obtained,  the  headquarters  of  the  Institute  should 
be  established  in  the  same  building.  Under  these 
conditions  the  mechanical  engineers  bought,  in  June, 
1890,  the  house  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine  at  12 
West  31st  street.  Institute  headquarters  were  es- 
tablished there  until  1894,  when,  needing  more  space 
than  could  be  spared  at  the  IMechanical  Engineer's 
home,  the  Institute  moved  to  26  Cortlandt  street. 
Outgrowing  these  quarters,  a  niove  was  made  to  95 
Liberty  street  in  1901.  the  seventh  floor  being  re- 
quired to  house  the  Executive  Offices  and  Library. 

On   the   evening  of  February  9th,   1903.   Mr.   Car- 


310  A  p  p  e  ndi  x 

negie  was  the  guest  of  honor  at  the  annual  dinner 
of  the  Institute,  and  his  interest  was  aroused  in  plans 
which  were  being  discussed  for  providing  the  Insti- 
tute with  a  permanent  home  of  its  own. 

( )n  l'\'l)ruary  14th,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  four 
professional  engineering  societies  and  the  Engineers' 
Club,  stating  his  willingness  to  contribute  one  mil- 
lion dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  union  engineering 
building.  This  ofifer  was  accepted  by  the  American 
Society  of  Mining  Engineers,  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  and  the  Engineers'  Club.  On 
March  19th,  1904,  Mr.  Carnegie  increased  his  original 
ofifer  by  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Two  build- 
ings will  be  erected,  one  known  as  the  Union  Engi- 
neering Building  and  the  other  as  the  Engineers' 
Club.  Plans  for  these  buildings  have  been  accepted 
and  it  is  expected  that  both  will  be  finished  and 
ready  for  occupancy  bj'  ]\Iay  ist,  1906. 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

Columbia  University  is  the  principal  seat  of 
higher  education  in  New  York  city.  It  is  splendidly 
situated  on  Morningside  Heights,  at  Amsterdam  ave- 
nue and  ii6th  street. 

At  the  present  time  about  5.000  students  are  en- 
rolled  and   its  teaching  force   numbers  485. 

In  the  Scientific  Department,  the  Columbia  School 
of  Mines  has  long  been  recognized  as  among  the 
leading  schools  of  the  world  in  this  branch  of  pro- 
fessional training.  The  Electrical  Department,  or- 
ganized more  recently,  has  a  large  teaching  person- 
nel and  very  complete  laboratory  facilities. 

EDISON'S   LABORATORY 

The  experimental  laboratory  of  Mr.  Thos.  A. 
Edison  is  situated  at  Orange,  New  Jersey,  and  may 
be  reached  by  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western 
R.    R.    to    Orange    Station,    and    thence    by    trolley. 

Here  Mr.   I'.dison  has  jiis  teclmical  lihrarv  and  his 


Appendix  311 

chemical  and  physical  laboratories,  and  it  is  here 
that  all  the  experimental  work  has  been  done  since 
the  laboratory  was  removed  from  Menlo  Park,  about 
1884. 

THE  ELECTRICAL  TESTING  LABORATORY 
Located  at  80th  street  and  East  End  avenue,  New 
York  city,  the  Technical  Testing  Laboratory  contains 
the    most     extensive     commercial    electrical    testing 
equipment  in  the  world. 

The  life-test  for  incandescent  lamps  embraces 
6,000  sockets  and  a  motor  dynamo  outfit  to  operate 
the  lamps  continuousl}^  The  photometric  labora- 
tories are  equipped  with  all  of  the  most  recent 
devices. 


The  fol\o-<.i.'\ng  manufacturers  in  Nezi.'  York  City  and  its 
vicinity  have  expressed  their  zi.'illingness  to  allozu 
visitors  to  see  their  icorks: 

The  a.  B.  See  Electric  Elevator  Company 

The  A.  B.  See  Company  makes  a  specialty  of  elec- 
tric elevators.      Its   new  plant,  which  will  be  in  full 
working  order  by  September  ist,  is  located  in  Jersey 
City.     It  is  best  reached  by  ferry  to  Communipaw. 
Cooper-Hewitt  Electric  Company 

The  Cooper-Hewitt  Company  manufactures  the 
Hewitt  ^Mercury  Vapor  Lamp  and  Vapor  Converter. 

The  works  are  located  at  220  West  29th  street. 
Crocker-Wheeler  Company 

The  Crocker-Wheeler  Electric  Company  is  the 
American  licensee  of  Brown,  Boveri  &  Cie,  inanu- 
facturers  of  electrical  generators  and  motors  for 
every  variety  of  service. 

The   works   are   located   at   Ampere.   New  Jersej% 
on  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western  R.  R. 
FooTE,  Pierson  &  Co. 

Succes.sors  to  E.  S.  Greeley  &  Co.,  manufacturers 
of    telegraph    instruments,    and    supplies,    also    high 


312  A  p  p  c  n  d  i  x 

grade  measuring  and  testing  instruments,  X-ray  ap- 
paratus and  electrical  specialties. 

Office  and  works  at  82  Fulton  street,  New  York 
city. 

M.xRixE  Engine  and  M.\chine  Company 

The  jMarine  Engine  and  Machine  Company  manu- 
factures electric  elevators,  controllers,  refrigerating 
iTiachinerj',  alco-vapor  launches,  heavy  machine  cast- 
ings, etc. 

The  plant  is  located  in  Harrison.  New  Jersey,  near 
Newark.     It    may   be    reached    by    the    Pennsylvania 
Railroad   or  the   Delaware,   Lackawanna   &  Western 
R.  R. 
Otis  Elev.ator  Company 

The  Otis  Elevator  Company'  manufactures  hy- 
draulic, electric  and  steam  elevators,  also  hoisting 
engines,  escalators  and  inclined  railways. 

The     works     of     this     company     are     located     in 
Yonkers. 
Ward  Leonard  Electric  Company 

The  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Company  manufac- 
tures rheostats,  motor  starters,  circuit  breakers,  re- 
sistance units,  etc.,  the  manufacture  of  various  forms 
of  rheostats  being  its  specialit}-. 

The  works  are  located  about   13  miles  from  the 
Grand  Central  station,  on  the  Harlem  Branch  of  the 
New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  R.  R. 
Western  Electric  Company 

The  Western  Electric  Company  manufactures 
telephonic  apparatus  of  all  kinds,  including  trans- 
initters,  receivers,  switchboard  apparatus,  etc. 

The   New   York   factory   is   located   at   the   corner 
of  West  and  Bethune  streets.  New  York  city. 
The  Willyoung  &  Gibson  Company 

The  \Villyoung  &  Gibson  Company  manufactures 
electrical  and  scientific  instruments  for  testing  and 
other  purposes.  It  also  manufactures  all  kinds  of 
X-ray  coils. 

The  plant  is  located  at  40  West   13th  street. 


AS 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  587  515     8 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


MAP   OF   GREATER.   NEW    YORK   AND    VICINITY 

Showlne  .11  TR.ANSPOR.TATION  rAClLlTlES.  SUBWAY  STATIONS.  prop<...d  .xl.n.lon  ol  Subw-y.  TKOLLEY  LINES.  R..ll™.d..„d  D..l.i.nc«i  b.<w..„  Tow 
Tunnel..  r«.Tle,.  Brtdga.  built  .nd  proposed.  »nd  »11  poinls  of  g.not^l  InUml. 

--,..^.— T,.rT,rT.r— rr^T^r^S^  TPpV^V^^jC 


